


Life In Motion

by heartsdesire456



Series: Life In Motion [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, Magic, Mpreg, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 21:38:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan looked at the blue cross, the two pink lines, and the digital smiley face and the bile rose in his throat. Aiden’s words echoed in his mind as he rushed back into the stall he’d exited.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>"Stop talking to Danny or I'm gonna rip the flesh off his face and eat it."</i></p><p> </p><p>Ethan couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he shouldn’t have listened to his brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life In Motion

**Author's Note:**

> Holy cow, this was meant to be like... MAYBE 10,000 words and mostly just the first part with Ethan pregnant.... but I couldn't help myself. I kept going and going. HOPEFULLY you'll all enjoy it anyhow?

Ethan looked at the blue cross, the two pink lines, and the digital smiley face and the bile rose in his throat. Aiden’s words echoed in his mind as he rushed back into the stall he’d exited.

_"Stop talking to Danny or I'm gonna rip the flesh off his face and eat it."_

Ethan couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he shouldn’t have listened to his brother.

~

“It’s quite simple,” Deucalion said, pacing in front of his remaining three pack mates. “Hands off of the wolves and humans until Scott joins us. Keep up your ruses. Do _not_ kill them yet.” 

“Is that all?” Kali asked, and Deucalion sighed.

“Yes, it is.” He waved a hand. “Now go. These two need to get to school before their ‘friends’ notice them showing up late all the time.”

Once they were dismissed, Ethan ignored the looks Aiden kept giving him as they hopped on their bikes and headed to school. He continued to ignore Aiden all through their first class together and was relieved when Aiden went to his next class, leaving Ethan without his suspicious eyes on him all the time. When lunchtime came around and Ethan saw Danny waiting on him, everything in him relaxed and a deep sense of content and comfort spread through him like a crashing wave. It was only when Ethan settled beside Danny and Danny’s scent warmed him from the inside out, lulling him into a near-drunken sense of safe and happy that he realized _why_ Danny’s scent was comforting him so much.

The wolf recognized its mate and was relaxing, fully content to rest its safety in the hands of its mate without any hesitation. Ethan felt ill but was too comfortable because of his wolfs complacency to make excuses to leave. All through the day, Ethan could sense Aiden chomping at the bits to speak to him. He tried to get Danny to invite him over to study after school, but Danny had band practice, so he was left with no choice but to go home with Aiden after all.

~

Ethan’s hopes that Aiden would lay off fell flat when, as soon as they got inside the apartment they were living in while in Beacon Hills, Aiden cornered him in the kitchen. “What the hell is going on?” Aiden asked, blocking Ethan from leaving the small kitchen bodily. “Something is wrong with you and you’re not telling me.”

Ethan shrugged nonchalantly, pulling a bag of baby carrots out of the refrigerator. “Nothing, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, crunching into a carrot.

Aiden just stared. “Ethan, you’re lying. I _know_ you’re lying. You KNOW I know it. Just stop and come clean.” He watched Ethan crunch the rest of the carrot and flapped a hand. “And that! I like carrots, and you go on and on about how gross they are. Why are you eating them?”

Ethan blinked. “They’re a good source of Vitamin A,” he offered, taking another bite. “Good for you.”

Aiden spluttered. “Since when do you care about _vitamins and minerals_?!” He groaned. “Ethan, what are you hiding. You’ve smelled wrong for weeks and you started acting weird, but I thought it was just your obsession with the human, but _now_ you’ve been acting scared all day and you’re eating carrots for the _vitamin A_?” He crossed his arms and stood tall. “Tell me. Now.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Who says I have to-“

“I’m older so you’ll tell me,” Aiden argued. “Now tell me.”

“No, Aiden-“

“Ethan-“

“No!”

“WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!” Aiden all but roared. He grabbed Ethan and shoved him against the refrigerator. “Talk-“

“STOP!” Ethan cried suddenly, shoving Aiden with full strength, sending him flying across the kitchen into the wall. He stopped, staring in horror at Aiden, who stumbled forward, staring with hurt in his eyes.

“Why- why did you do that?” Aiden asked, holding his arm as he rubbed at it. 

Ethan closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the refrigerator. “You- you can’t shove me around, Aid-“

“Fuck that, we have shoved each other around since I can remember. You know I’d never _hurt_ you, I never have, I never would, so why did you really shove me just now?! What did I do to make you think I’d ever _hurt_ you?” Aiden demanded, fear in his voice. “Ethan, what is happening-“

“Just because you won’t hurt me doesn’t mean it won’t hurt something else,” Ethan all but whispered. 

Aiden frowned. “Huh?” he asked.

Ethan looked up and his breath hitched around a sob as tears flooded his eyes. “Aiden,” he whispered, sounding terrified. “Aiden.”

Aiden’s blood ran cold. “What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately terrified. If something had happened to scare Ethan so terribly, it had to be bad. “What happened?”

Ethan bit his lip, steeling his features into stoicism even if there were tears in his eyes, threatening to spill over. “Aiden, I’m- I’m pregnant,” he said softly, voice serious.

Aiden’s face filled with anger. “Ethan, don’t _do that_!” he snarled, slamming him into the refrigerator again. “Don’t scare me like that-“

“I’m NOT!” Ethan squawked, voice breaking as he shoved Aiden off. “I’m not kidding so stop pushing me around!”

Aiden froze, looking Ethan in the eyes. “Say it again,” he muttered hollowly, shock filtering through slowly.

Ethan held his gaze and grabbed his hand. “I’m pregnant. Probably a few weeks.”

Aiden stepped back, staring blankly. “Oh God,” he whispered, and Ethan nodded. “Oh _God_ ,” he breathed, then pushed his fingers through his short hair as he spun in a pointless circle, looking around the kitchen. “Fuck, fuck, _Ethan_!” He spun around, gaping. “ _Danny_?!” he squeaked, and Ethan nodded solemnly. Aiden groaned. “Ethan, oh my God, why? How?! Men don’t get pregnant-“

“Aiden, there’s a freaking druid out to get us. Anything can happen when there’s magic working against us.” He swallowed. “So far, I’m okay. I guess the druid didn’t do it to hurt me. Or at least not yet.”

Aiden looked up. “Shit, Deucalion will be pissed,” he said fearfully. “Either he’ll want nothing to do with us anymore and we’ll be alone, or he’ll want you to get rid of it, or-“ Aiden froze and Ethan closed his eyes, leaning against the counter.

“He’ll tell you to kill me.”

~

Ethan knew that Aiden was sure the cub was dead after the electricity that had gone through their body. Ethan wasn’t so sure, but he had his fears as well. There was no way a pregnancy could survive that sort of jolt, he was almost sure. His fears were bad enough that, as soon as he and Aiden were able to go home, he left Aiden to go home and he took a detour.

When the bell tinkled above Ethan’s head as he entered, he immediately sensed the mountain ash all around him. He walked closer and stood, patiently, outside the gate. “You know,” a voice called from just beyond the corner. “I don’t respond well to threats.” 

Deaton came walking out, stopping on the other side of the gate. Ethan swallowed but shook his head. “I’m not here to threaten you.” He took a breath. “I- I need help.”

Deaton raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got an emissary, why would I help you?”

“No,” Ethan groaned, shuddering. “Never can she know. She’d tell Kali or Deucalion. I need- I need someone else.”

Deaton nodded. “And what makes you think I won’t tell anybody?”

Ethan smiled tightly. “If you told Scott and Derek, they would feel sympathy and become weak.” He offered Deaton a head tilt. “Call it patient privacy?”

Deaton hummed. “Patient, huh?” Ethan nodded and Deaton seemed to think, before nodding. “Alright, come on back.” Ethan followed Deaton, hands in his pockets as he followed Deaton. Deaton circled the metal table and flipped on an overhead light. “So, what can I help you with, Mr. Ames?” 

Ethan shuffled some, trying to think of how to come out and say what he thought. “Okay… this is going to sound crazy, I know, but is there-“ He coughed. “Is there any way you could find out whether or not a pregnant person’s-“ He hesitated over the word ‘baby’. It didn’t feel like something even he could say. “If a pregnancy was messed up by a physical trauma?” he asked.

Deaton raised an eyebrow. “Who do you know that’s pregnant and suffered a physical trauma that could terminate the pregnancy?”

Ethan shook his head. “If it happened, could _you_ find out? It’s not really something a hospital is an option for.”

Deaton shrugged. “I’m no obstetrician, but I have the equipment for when it’s necessary to do ultrasounds on pets with blockages. It would be new to me, but doable. Now, how about you tell me who is pregnant? I’m assuming it’s a werewolf or the hospital would be no issue for her.”

Ethan winced. “I told you it would sound crazy,” he warned, then took a sharp breath. “Me. I’m pregnant. At least I’m pretty sure I am. Or was, if- if it…” 

Deaton cocked an eyebrow. “Oh really.” He studied Ethan, then rolled his eyes. “Mr. Ames, I don’t have time for whatever you’re trying to do here-“

“You’re an emissary, you know what all magic there is,” Ethan urged, fearfully. “You know what we’re doing here and you know what we’re dealing with. A strong enough druid can do almost anything. You can’t tell me this is beyond what you could imagine,” he stressed. “Now _please_. I had an extreme jolt of electricity go through me and I need to know if- if there’s-“ He took a breath. “I need to know.”

Deaton eyed him closely, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll go along with this in case you’re not lying. But I don’t believe you until I see proof for myself.” 

~

Deaton stared in surprise as the scan. “Well now.” He looked up at Ethan, who was nervously chewing on his thumbnail.

It took a while for Deaton to get set up and for him to go do a quick read on exactly what he was supposed to be looking for, but there was no denying something before his eyes. Especially when he examined Ethan and found that, sure enough, there was an anomalous marker in his blood test and, when he went on to do the ultrasound (with some trial and error), there was clearly a uterus with something in it inside of Ethan.

Ethan looked at him. “Believe me now?” he asked and Deaton chuckled.

“Well, it sure seems like you weren’t lying.” He took a closer look. “The good news is, I know enough about werewolf pregnancy from my time as an emissary to a female alpha to know that the early gestational stages are faster and the bulk of a werewolf pregnancy is fetal development.” He gestured to the scan. “It’s earlier than heart motions would be visible in human pregnancy so there would be no way to tell. However, going by the size of the embryo, if there’s no heart motion, it’s likely the pregnancy is no longer viable and a miscarriage is imminent.”

Ethan turned slightly green. “Mis-miscarriage? Is that- how would that… work?”

Deaton gestured to the screen. “You got pregnant naturally, even if it was magically aided. You can imagine how birth and miscarriage would present itself.” Ethan paled and Deaton held up a hand. “However, I have better news for you.” He tapped on the screen. “That is clear cardiac motion.”

Ethan let out a hard breath, as if he’d been kicked. “So- so it’s okay?” he asked.

Deaton smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, at this point there’s no way to know if there were any negative effects, but it is a viable pregnancy for the time being at least.” He looked at Ethan. “What happened to you that made you think otherwise? Just for my own curiosity.”

Ethan ducked his head. “My brother and I… we were combined into our alpha form at the time so maybe that’s what protected it, but we got electrocuted. That’s- that’s really bad even for alphas, so I worried the- the pregnancy. You know.”

Deaton nodded. “I’m surprised that you and your brother are able to combine since you’re pregnant. Your bodies aren’t the same anymore.”

Ethan shrugged. “We didn’t think about it. But I doubt we’d try it later on. I don’t know for sure how long I’ve been pregnant, so we’ve been doing it for at least some weeks now.”

Deaton hummed. “I’d assume around about a month. Maybe a little longer.” He looked at him. “Ethan, what are you going to do?” he asked gently. “You’re playing a dangerous game. It isn’t my place to interfere, but I have a good feeling that a pair of teenage boys didn’t get into this war without encouragement.”

Ethan looked down at his lap. “They know we didn’t,” he said softly. “Scott knows the truth. He even knows that I don’t want any of this we’re involved in.” He looked up. “But at this point, it’s too late. Either we’re with Deucalion or he’ll kill us. I can’t lose Aiden and I can’t let him die because of me. 

Deaton looked at him long and hard before nodding to his middle. “This cub. What is going to happen when Deucalion finds out about it? Do you think that it’s going to go over well that somehow the darach decided to give you the ability to conceive and you _did_?”

Ethan tensed. “It won’t work out well but that won’t become obvious until things are over here, one way or another, and then Aiden and I can leave without having to be afraid he’ll hunt us down.”

Deaton sighed, but nodded. “You’re playing with fire. Just try not to get burned,” he warned, and Ethan shrugged.

“I’m doing my best. I didn’t exactly plan for this.”

~

Deaton rushed around as Cora and Lydia watched him like he was crazy. “What are you doing? You said they had started healing,” Cora said, watching him dragging a machine over between the two tables. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah, I think he’s waking up,” Lydia said, touching Aiden’s head again. “Hey Aiden? You alive?” she asked, patting his chest. “Wake up, c’mon.”

Aiden groaned and turned his head some. “Oh God,” he groaned. He blinked a few times up at Lydia. “Huh?” he asked, then turned to look at Ethan. “Ethan?” he asked, only to blink and gasp when he saw Deaton rushing around him. “ETHAN!” he cried, sitting up, only to cry out and fall back, groaning in pain. “Shit-“

“You stay still,” Deaton said pointing at him. “Just lay there and heal, Mr. Ames. Let me deal with this.”

Aiden shook his head. “You don’t understand, he’s-“

“A little different, I know,” Deaton said, nodding pointedly at Lydia and Cora. “Who do you think let him know for sure the electricity hadn’t changed that. Now could you ladies give us a little privacy?”

Cora and Lydia looked confused but they both left. Aiden waited for the door to shut to look over. “Is he okay otherwise? He’s not dying right?” he asked, looking at his brother fearfully. “He can’t die,” he squeaked.

Deaton shook his head. “He’s healing, so he should survive. The question is whether or not the cub survived,” he said, and Aiden let his head fall back.

“No matter what, don’t let the others know about the cub,” he said, giving Deaton a pleading look. “We don’t need that to deal with too.” 

Deaton raised an eyebrow as he prepared. “Oh yes? And what about when it becomes clear your brother is pregnant?”

Aiden cringed. “We’ll deal with that when the time comes. For now, just make sure he still is.”

~

Ethan came home and collapsed straight on the couch, moaning pitifully. “Aiden, kill me. Make it stop!”

Aiden laughed at him. “I can’t believe you threw up in class!” Ethan glared at him, only his arms visible around his arms. Aiden rolled his eyes and came over, flopping on top of him until Ethan squawked and shoved him off, sitting up to glare. “Eth, you’re pregnant, barfing is a thing,” he said and Ethan whined, putting his face in his hands.

“She was wearing blueberry perfume and I _hate_ blueberries and it was just too much and the teacher wouldn’t let me go to the bathroom and-“

“And why are we even still there?” Aiden asked, swinging his legs into Ethan’s lap. “Seriously, why are we doing this? Deucalion is gone. We’re not doing that anymore. We have no reason to go to school.”

Ethan shrugged. “What else are we gonna do?” he asked. He looked up worriedly. “Actually, what are we gonna do about anything?” he asked. He gestured around them. “How do we pay the rent?” he asked uneasily. He looked at his middle. “What the hell do we do with the issues this causes?” he asked, gesturing to his middle. “I’m a pregnant _boy_ , Aiden!” 

Aiden looked around. “We could just leave?” he offered “We can pack up and just go. Find a pack to take us in maybe.” He sighed. “Somewhere,” he added uncertainly.

Ethan’s insides ran cold and he shook his head. “I can’t.”

Aiden frowned. “What? Why not? What, is it Deaton? I’m sure there’s another pack with someone who will know what to do about pregnancy-“

“No,” Ethan said quickly. He looked up. “Aiden… I can’t leave Danny,” he said softly.

Aiden gave him a disbelieving look. “What?! Ethan, are you crazy?” He sat up straight. “What the hell do you think is going to happen there? You’re _pregnant_ -“

“With his baby!” Ethan interrupted. “Aiden, think about what that means!” He gestured to himself. “Imagine what my wolf is like about it all.” Aiden just tilted his head to the side in confusion. Ethan rolled his eyes. “Aiden, my wolf sees Danny as my mate. He is the father of my cub. You can’t even imagine what it’s like when-“ He cringed with embarrassment. “When I catch his scent, my entire body relaxes. Just having him beside me puts me entirely at ease. I feel safer than ever when I’m with him.”

Aiden sighed. “Ethan, you can’t stay with him. You’re pregnant. That’s going to be obvious pretty soon. Also, even if by some miracle he didn’t freak out over that, there’s the fact you and I _killed his classmates_ ,” he stressed. “He’d probably deal with the werewolf thing – I doubt he’s stupid enough to not have noticed stuff – but we have killed people he knew. Also, a psycho gave you the ability to get pregnant and now you have a cub!”

Ethan’s face fell. “I know,” he whispered. He looked up with pain in his eyes. “But I can’t leave him, Aiden. Not yet. I’ve got to at least try telling him-“

“Telling him?!” Aiden cried. “Ethan, you can’t _tell him_ -“

“Oh, I can’t try telling him but I can just leave without any reason?!” Ethan demanded. “Aiden, I’m _having his cub_ -“

“He’s a seventeen year old human-“

“I LOVE HIM!” Ethan blurted out, then slapped a hand over his mouth.

Aiden stared in shock. Ethan put his face in his hands and Aiden shook his head slowly. “Ethan… What- how-“ 

“I don’t know when or how it happened, but he’s just- He’s-“ Ethan took a breath and blew it out carefully. “Danny makes me better, Aiden. Danny is most of the reason I wanted to stop doing bad stuff and hurting people. He’s so strong, and brave, and he’s just _good_ and he makes me want to be a better person. He’s smart, and he’s _nice_. He’s so nice. He’s the kindest person in this entire freaking town,” Ethan said with a weak smile. “He’s just wonderful and he makes me feel like life isn’t just about either suffering or hurting others.” He looked down. “And I’m having his cub. He deserves at least to know about that.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes suddenly. “I never really asked, but why is that? Why are you having a cub?”

Ethan shot him a disgruntled glare. “Oh fuck off, my sex life is none-“

“Wow, ew, no.” Aiden made a face. “I was _not_ asking about that, but thanks so much for making me think about that.” He shuddered. “No, I mean that I’m sure there was some way to get rid of it. Magical or maybe Deaton could work something out medical.” 

Ethan paled and stared. “I- I didn’t even think about that,” he admitted.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you seriously didn’t even consider-“

“No,” Ethan said quickly. “I was terrified when I sensed it inside of me, and the longer it grew, I got more scared. Then when I took a pregnancy test and it worked - which is really funny cause Deaton said that shouldn’t have even worked, but it did – I was even more scared. But I didn’t- I really didn’t think about that,” he said honestly. He shook his head slowly. “I couldn’t.” He smiled nervously. “My wolf gives me all these instincts. The ‘Danny is safe and comfortable’ instincts aren’t even as strong as the protective instincts over my cub. When something happens and someone tries to hurt me, my wolf goes insane because being hurt by someone means it could hurt my cub.” 

Aiden hummed. “So like… you want it?”

Ethan shrugged. “I didn’t want it to happen, but when it did?” He smiled gently and looked down at his middle. “It’s my _cub_ , Aiden.” He looked at Aiden with a bright look in his eyes. “I didn’t want it to happen, and it’s a danger to our cover, but I love my cub.”

Aiden eyed his middle, and groaned. “Damn it, I’m gonna end up a babysitter, aren’t I?” he asked and Ethan just grinned.

~

Ethan and Aiden had been surprised when, at midnight on a school night, Lydia texted Aiden for them both to meet her at Stilinski’s house. They knew it didn’t sound right, but they went anyways. Lydia said it was a werewolf thing that she and Stiles could use their help with. When they arrived, Stiles let them in, but in the living room, Lydia wasn’t alone. Allison, Scott, and Isaac were all waiting with her. 

“What’s going on?” Aiden asked, and Stiles stepped around them, walking over to stand beside the couch. 

“We just need to talk, dude,” Stiles said and Scott nodded, stepping towards them.

“Look, we just need to know where you guys were tonight.” He looked at Ethan. “Did you see Danny tonight?”

Ethan frowned. “No, why?” He paled, dread filling him. “Danny? Is Danny okay?” 

Allison stood suddenly, drawing a gun. “Like you don’t know,” she said and Ethan’s heart stopped.

Stiles jumped back. “What the hell?!”

“Allison!” Aiden snarled, but she didn’t hesitate to aim right for Ethan. “NO!-“ Aiden’s cry was cut off by Allison pulling the trigger. “ETHAN!” he cried, but instead of Ethan, the bullet hit its target in Scott’s side.

“SCOTT?!” Stiles cried, rushing over to where Scott hit the ground. “Allison, what the HELL?!” he cried as Lydia snatched her gun and Isaac grabbed her to hold her still.

Scott shook off Stiles’s hands and sat up. “Why did you do that?!” he cried. “Allison, what the-“

The door flew open and the sound of footsteps pounded towards them just before the Sheriff slid to a stop, gun drawn but pointed at the floor as he entered the living room. “What was that?!” he demanded, looking at the gun in Lydia’s hand. She followed his gaze the quickly laid it on the coffee table and stepped back, pointing at Allison. 

Scott struggled to his feet, holding his side. “Wolfsbane?!” he demanded, glaring at her. “You were going to shoot him with wolfsbane without any evidence he even saw Danny tonight?!”

Sheriff groaned, holstering his gun. “This is about Danny?” he asked, looking exasperated.

Ethan turned to him with fearful eyes. “What happened to Danny?” 

“He’s in the hospital.” Stiles stepped up. “Dad, why are you home-“

John held up a hand to stop him. “I can come home whenever the hell I want,” he said, then walked over and snatched the gun off the table, taking it away from the kids. “Now who the hell wants to explain why you _shot Scott_ over Danny Mahealani being in the hospital?”

Allison turned on Scott. “I was _trying_ to shoot Ethan for whatever he did to Danny-“

“Wolfsbane in his bloodstream would have killed his cub!” Scott argued, glaring at her. “Are you INSANE?!”

Ethan and Aiden both slid closer together fearfully, Aiden stepping in front of Ethan some. “How do you know about that?” he asked Scott, who just shook his head.

“I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry,” he said, meeting Ethan’s eyes. “Deaton was hiding the file with the scans in it behind his filing cabinet and I dropped some papers down there and when I picked them up, there was a folder and I thought it slipped back so I was going to put it up. When I saw E. Ames on the tab, I read it cause I had no idea why you would have been there and- and the scans were in and all the blood work notes.”

There was silence for a moment and then Stiles held up a finger. “So wait… when you say _cub_ … does that mean what I think-“

“Does nobody care that Scott’s been shot with a wolfsbane bullet?” Isaac interrupted. “Just saying.”

Scott waved a hand. “I’ve got more than the fifteen minutes it will take to get everything out in the open. Derek lasted several hours when he was a beta, I can last a few minutes as an alpha,” he dismissed. “And yes, Stiles, cub as in-“

“As in I’m pregnant,” Ethan said, then looked at him, tears in his eyes. “What happened to Danny?” he demanded fearfully.

Lydia shook her head. “I don’t know, we just heard he was in the hospital and obviously, Allison took that as enough evidence you did it,” she said, glaring at her friend.

The Sheriff rolled his eyes and groaned. “Oh my God,” he said, and more than a few eyebrows raised at how ‘Stiles’ of a move it was. “Danny Mahealani was admitted to the hospital for anaphylaxis because, at a restaurant with his family, someone called an ambulance. He’s going to be fine, he just ate something he’s allergic too! For God’s sake, you couldn’t call and ask neither the Sheriff father or the nurse mother of this group to say ‘hey, so was Danny mauled by a werewolf?’ before _shooting at a kid_?” He stopped, then turned to Aiden and Ethan. “Wait, did he say _pregnant_?!” 

Stiles made a face. “So boy werewolves have babies?” he asked, then glanced at Scott and Isaac, who both glared at him.

Ethan sighed. “No, it was the darach.” He shook his head. “No idea why she wanted to make me pregnant, but she was the only one with the magical power to do it.”

“She wanted to cause a distraction,” Scott offered. “Deaton worked it out. There were only you two and Kali left for Deucalion. If Ethan was pregnant, Deucalion would’ve wanted to get rid of him, Aiden would’ve fought him on it, one or both of you would’ve died, and while all this was going on – since it probably wouldn’t all happen at once – all of you would’ve been distracted, and in the end, Deucalion would’ve had only Kali left no matter how things went.”

Ethan nodded. “Why do you think Aiden agreed to go good with me in the end?” he asked simply. “If Deucalion knew, he’d kill me, so we knew we had to help you take him out.”

Stiles nodded. “Okay, so she implanted a baby like on Alien. Sweet.”

Ethan glowered. “No, you dumbass, she gave me the internal organs necessary and let nature take its course.”

“Oh,” Stiles said, then gave them an appraising look. “Wow, so for once our drama is a food allergy and teen pregnancy. Shockingly normal for us,” he said, then nodded to Ethan. “Also, dude, _condoms_.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “She gave me a _uterus_ by magic. Do you _really_ think she was going to risk safe sex practices stopping me from getting pregnant?” 

Stiles hummed. “Good point.” He blinked. “Oh crap, that means _Danny_ is going to be a _dad_!” he realized.

It seemed to take a moment to hit everyone, but when it did, their reactions varied. The most obvious was Allison’s loud ‘awwwww’. “Oh my gosh that baby will be so cute!” she said, and Lydia shot her a flat look.

“You tried to kill him minutes ago and now you’re ‘awww’ing over his teen pregnancy?” she asked.

Ethan glanced at Aiden, who shrugged, then cleared his throat. “Actually… about that teen pregnancy thing,” he said, putting his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “We’ll be twenty soon. We’re only in high school still because we haven’t decided where to go from here,” he admitted and everybody stared. He narrowed his eyes. “Also,” he growled, eyes flashing red. “If you had hurt my cub, I would’ve ripped you to shreds, bitch, so don’t you _ever_ point a gun at me and my cub again,” he spat angrily.

Isaac hummed. “That explains so much, actually,” he said.

Scott frowned. “Wait, so… what do you mean where to go from here? Are you guys leaving town?” he asked.

Aiden rolled his eyes. “I wanted to but Ethan can’t,” he said and Ethan shot him an exasperated look. “But no, what he means is that now that we’re alone, we don’t know what to do.” He bit his lip. “We sort of don’t have money anymore, so we’re already a month behind on our rent. I’m looking for jobs, but Ethan can’t start working somewhere since he’ll be visibly pregnant soon and he’s a guy. Either way, we’re dropping out soon.”

Ethan looked down. “We’re holding out for whenever I was going to finally tell Danny,” he admitted nervously. “Aiden said we should skip town, but I just- I can’t not tell him and I can’t leave him. Even if I could do it as far as dealing with a heartbreak, I _can’t_ now. The cub makes my wolf even more attached to Danny. Even if he’s just a human, my instincts are that he’s ‘safety’, so leaving town where he’s out of touch is pretty much not possible. I’d never last.”

Isaac hummed. “Tell him about the werewolf thing or the baby thing? Cause I gotta say, that ‘not leave him’ thing… not sure how well that’ll work either way- OW!” He glared at Stiles, who had elbowed him. “What?!”

Ethan glared. “Why do you think I keep putting it off?” he grumbled.

John sighed heavily from the doorway. “Why me?” he breathed then looked up. “Okay, you-“ He pointed at Allison. “Stop _shooting people_ , God!” He pointed at Stiles. “You, stop pulling this crap behind my back when I know about it this time.” He waved a hand. “No more bloodshed in the house. Somebody fix Scott. Pregnant teenage boy, come with me,” he said, gesturing for Ethan to come towards him. Aiden tensed and stepped in front of Ethan, and John gave him a flat look to rival even Stiles’s. “Seriously, I’m not going to hurt your brother. I’m going to get my nurse friend to sneak a blood test to be sure he’s not dying or something.”

Ethan frowned. “I’ve had blood tests though.”

“Yeah, because a veterinarian knows how to deal with werewolf pregnancy,” he said, then flapped his hand. “Just come on, kid. This is for my peace of mind. I don’t want the death of a pregnant nineteen year old on my conscience.”

Ethan nodded, but reached out to snag Aiden’s shirt. “Only if Aiden comes with us,” he said, and John nodded.

“Fine, whatever, just c’mon. We’ll do it while they fix Scott,” he said, gesturing for them to follow him out.

~

Melissa whistled as she walked in with a folder. “Man, werewolf blood tests weird,” she said, bringing Ethan the folder. “Here, the lab techs expect this back to see what went wrong with their equipment, but I figure you can burn it somewhere.”

John nodded. “And as best as you can tell, he isn’t dying or something?”

Melissa shook her head. “No, seems okay mostly. I had to compare to Scott’s blood, but it seems like the only weird thing are hormonal differences. Probably the age thing,” she said, then chuckled. “It’s funny, the results actually almost matched pregnancy indicator hormones from the later end of the first trimester level.”

John cringed. “So, about that…”

Ethan nodded when Melissa shot him a confused look. “May as well know since all the other kids and John here know.”

Melissa smiled almost too falsely. “Wait, it sounds like you’re saying you’re _pregnant_ ,” she said, and Ethan smiled. Her smile dropped and she just stared. “WHAT?!”

John groaned. “Long story. Don’t ask. Just don’t.” He snorted. “Magic. More freaking magic.”

She gaped. “Oh my God, you’re _pregnant_?!” she whispered, and Ethan nodded. “What the hell- oh!” She put a hand over her mouth. “Danny?” she asked and Ethan bit his lip. “Oh wow. WOW.”

Ethan nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. That’s about how I felt,” he said, then shrugged. “I’ve got to tell him soon now. Everybody else found out tonight so it’s only right.” 

John chuckled. “Oh that’s going to go well,” he said and Aiden glared at him, nodding at Ethan’s worried face. John made a face. “Alright, c’mon, boys.”

They said goodbye to Melissa and followed John to the car. When they got in, Ethan turned to John. “Thank you,” he said softly. “I- I didn’t expect people to handle it so well.” 

John smiled ruefully. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the craziest thing Melissa or I have learned this year. The way I see it, any day that doesn’t involve a body count is good enough.

~

“What do you mean ‘moving in’?!” Aiden asked, staring at John Stilinski like he’d grown a second head since they saw him a week before.

John nodded, arms crossed. “You have an eviction notice on the counter, you don’t have jobs, you just dropped out of high school, and I don’t care if you’re both twenty soon, you’re _kids_ , and one of you is pregnant,” he said, then nodded at Stiles’s jeep, that was parked by the road. “Pack your things and put them in the back.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Stiles knows you want us to _move in with you_ and he is okay with it?”

John shrugged. “He’ll learn to be okay with it,” he said simply. “He’s seventeen, I’m his dad, and you two need somewhere to stay until you’re on your feet.” His eyes softened some. “Look, I didn’t get elected sheriff because I’m the kind of person who leaves a set of orphans, one of which is pregnant, out in the cold.”

Ethan looked at Aiden, who shrugged, then he sighed and nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Stilinski.” He smiled. “You have no reason to make an offer like this, so thank you.”

“Of course I do, you’re people who need help.” John chuckled. “Where the hell do you think Stiles gets it?” he asked, stepping over the threshold to help them pack up their things. “Now let’s get going before it gets dark.”

~

To say Ethan was terrified was an understatement. He was stuck pacing as he waited for Danny to get to the Stilinski house. Stiles had, predictably, not been at all happy that the spare bedroom was being devoted to Ethan and Aiden for a while. However, he really was a nice guy, so when Ethan admitted to him when Stiles cornered him to ask what he was going to do that Danny still didn’t know about the werewolf thing, nonetheless the cub, Stiles volunteered to get out of the house and take Aiden with him so that only John and Ethan would be there for when Ethan finally did the big reveal. John was only going to be there to verify Ethan’s claims if Danny had trouble believing them.

He was on his twenty-third lap around the coffee table when the doorbell rang and he heard John leaving the dining room to go get the door. Ethan heard John and Danny talking, then sat down quickly so he didn’t look as nervous as he really was when they came in. Danny’s face when he saw him told him his plan hadn’t worked, but he still fixed a smile on his face. It wasn’t hard to smile at Danny’s happy face. “Hey,” he said softly, reaching out his hand when Danny came closer. He felt everything in him relax like magic when Danny’s skin brushed his. Danny was instant comfort. When Danny sat down beside him, his nerves calmed considerably, though he was still very nervous.

“Hey,” Danny replied, then glanced at John before looking back. “So, what’s up with meeting at Stiles’s house?”

Ethan took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Because I live here now,” he said and Danny looked thoroughly confused. “Okay, Danny… so much needs to be said,” he started, lacing their fingers together hopefully. “The important part is that no matter what, nothing I feel for you was ever faked,” he said and Danny tensed some.

“Ethan?” he asked in confusion. “What’s going on?”

Ethan looked at John, who nodded, then met Danny’s eyes. “You know how some strange things have been going on around here?”

Danny’s confusion melted and he smiled suddenly and unexpectedly, raising an eyebrow. “Wait, is this the part where you tell me about being a werewolf?” he asked in clear amusement.

Ethan and John both gaped, jaws hanging open. “W-what?” Ethan asked, and Danny gave him a warm smile.

“Eth, nobody here is subtle,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Come on, I figured out you were one too pretty soon after we started dating. I’m not stupid,” he pointed out.

“But- but how did you even know?!” Ethan asked, eyes wide.

Danny laughed lightly. “I knew weird things were happening last school year, but then Jackson emailed me after he got to London to explain his side of everything. He left out McCall and Stilinski’s involvement, but he explained about the former fugitive Derek Hale,” he nodded to the Sheriff, “And Gerard Argent and Allison’s family and how he was a murderous lizard thing and now he’s a werewolf. He showed me on Skype so I believed him. Then I thought about Scott suddenly getting really good at lacrosse, and then it explained so much about Stiles being weirder than usual.” He gave John an apologetic look for that one. “But then this year…” He snickered. “Well none of you really whisper, Babe,” he said simply. “You can’t walk around school talking about all this stuff at a normal level and not expect anybody to catch on.”

Ethan’s face fell. “So… you know what- what I did?” he asked hollowly.

Danny’s face darkened. “I know about Boyd,” he admitted. “I put together enough of a picture from that.”

Ethan nodded solemnly. “Then why didn’t you break up with me?” he asked. “You know what Aiden and I did. You know what we’re capable of. Weren’t you afraid of me?”

Danny bit his lip, but shook his head. “No,” he said softly, and Ethan leaned back some in confusion. Danny smiled sadly. “Ethan, I worked out enough to know that what happened to me was that witch person trying to kill me, right?” Ethan nodded. “Well, the night I got sick, I know it was before Boyd, but I realized how much you care about me that night.” He shook his head. “I’d figured out you were a werewolf by then, so I didn’t trust you really. But when I got sick, you freaked out. You were scared. Not just a little scared, you were terrified. I saw it and I knew then and there that whatever werewolf stuff was going on, that had nothing to do with the way you felt about me.” He stroked his finger along Ethan’s knuckles. “You weren’t that kind of person. So when I found out about Boyd, as horrified as I was, I couldn’t believe you would just do that. I knew without a doubt that something else happened. Something else was going on. You wouldn’t do that. You’re not a murderer.”

Ethan closed his eyes. “But I am. I’ve killed people. Not just Boyd-“

“And I know it had to be a bigger story than just that,” Danny denied. He shrugged. “It’s stupid, but I just couldn’t believe you were bad like that. Then for a while you seemed scared all the time. I knew it was whatever was happening. I haven’t asked anybody but I’m sure all those people dying were involved in it, right?” he asked.

Ethan nodded. “That wasn’t us. That was the witch person. She was trying to kill us. Aiden, me, and these other people we were in a pack with.” He nodded at John. “The night of the recital, she kidnapped him. She tried to kill Lydia and kidnapped him. It was Ms. Blake. She was the one and she did almost kill me and Aiden. She killed a lot of people and we almost died and now- now all of that is over,” he said firmly. “You’re right. I’m not a bad person. I just- God it’s so much longer of a story than I can afford to waste time on right now, but the important part is that now Aiden and I are alone.”

Danny frowned. “I thought you lived with your parents?”

Ethan smiled sadly. “We don’t have parents.” He swallowed. “Our parents were killed when we were babies. We’re alone. It’s always been just us.” He took a deep breath. “And now Stiles and his dad have taken us in because we’re dropping out of school and with our pack gone, we didn’t have a way to afford rent-“

“Whoa, you’re _dropping out_?!” Danny asked, surprised. “I knew you didn’t show up a few days, but why-“

“Because of the even bigger part,” Ethan said, giving Danny a terrified look. “Danny… This is the big part.”

Danny stared. “What’s bigger than ‘I’m a werewolf’?”

Ethan swallowed hard. “I’ve lied to you about so much, Danny,” he whispered weakly. “I’m not actually a high school kid,” he started. “Aiden and I will be twenty in a month.” Danny gaped. “And- and nothing you said is wrong, the way I feel about you is not faked… but at the start, I only showed interest in you because- because I was supposed to kill you,” he said and Danny stared with hurt in his eyes. “Please, don’t forget that I would never hurt you. I never would have. I was on orders, but you changed me. Everything about you is amazing, Danny.” He smiled weakly. “You made me want to be better. You gave me the strength to convince Aiden for us to back out of what was going on. I wanted to stop hurting people. I wanted to just- just be good and you made me want that.” 

Danny nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay.” He took a breath, shaking his head some. “Okay, so you’re- you’re three years older than me and you were going to kill me at one point. Okay that is… not good, I’ll admit.” He squared his shoulders and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I can- I can handle it. You care about me and you aren’t that person anymore. The age thing is weird, but it’s far from a deal breaker. My parents are more than three years apart, lots of people are more than that-“

“That’s still not the biggest part,” Ethan said, and Danny’s expression faltered.

“More, Ethan?” he asked, looking fearful. “How? How is there more? I don’t want to lose you, but- but you keep coming up with stuff and I’ll hit a limit,” he said fearfully.

Ethan smiled uneasily. “The most important thing to remember is that I love you,” he said and Danny smiled momentarily, since Ethan had never said that before. Ethan steeled himself and spoke. “Danny, I’m pregnant.” Danny continued to stare, his expression never changing. Ethan started to get worried, and glanced at John, who was grimacing in sympathy. “Danny?” he asked softly.

Danny seemed to snap out of it and he cleared his throat, blinking. “I think I just hallucinated. What?” he asked calmly.

“I’m pregnant,” Ethan breathed. “Ms. Blake, she- she did stuff to me. She did magic on me to try and tear apart my pack at the time. She made this possible.”

Danny just shook his head. “Okay, no,” he said firmly. “Ethan, don’t be crazy. You’re a guy-“

“And she did magic on me-“

“And even without, we’re safe,” Danny continued. “You can’t be pregnant. At all. Ever.”

Ethan huffed out a hurt sound. “Danny, she used magic to give me a uterus, do you really think she was going to let condoms stop me from being pregnant?!” He shook his head. “I am, Danny. I could feel my cub growing before I knew to even worry about being pregnant. When I started throwing up I knew I was sensing something and, sure enough, there’s a cub inside of me.”

Danny looked over at John, who just nodded. “Sorry son, but it’s true.” He nodded to Ethan. “Saw the blood test myself. Scott saw the scans.” 

Danny looked back at Ethan, who nodded tightly. “Scans? Where the hell have you been to a doctor? You’re a werewolf _man_.”

Ethan bit his lip and looked at John, then turned back. “We could show you?” he offered and John nodded, getting up to go grab his phone.

Danny nodded, looking a little out of it. “Yeah, okay.”

~

Danny got out of the care and stared. “Are you fucking kidding me.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement of disbelief. “A _veterinarian_?!” he asked incredulously and John chuckled.

“I know, the dog jokes are too easy, but my friend Deaton is more than he seems,” he said, putting a comforting hand on Ethan’s shoulder as he stared at Danny nervously. “C’mon, Ethan,” he said, and Ethan desperately grasped Danny’s hand, glancing at him every few steps as if he was afraid he’d run away. 

When they got inside, Dr. Deaton was waiting at the counter. “Mr. Ames, it’s nice to see you’re well,” he greeted, then nodded. “Hey, John.” He looked at Danny and gave him a small nod. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said and Ethan rolled his eyes at the cheesy line. “I presume we’re here to confirm that Mr. Ames is pregnant?”

John smiled tightly and nodded. “Danny’s a little unsure about our claims.”

Deaton nodded. “Well then, come on.” He led them back to his exam room. “I’m no obstetrician but I’ve read up some and contacted some older sources on werewolf pregnancy. My equipment isn’t designed for humans, but it works all the same,” he explained to Danny. “If you’re patient with me, I can probably show you after some trial and error.”

~

Danny sat on the hood of the car staring at his hands. He couldn’t stop seeing what had looked like a lumpy bean to him on the screen, but had been told was actually a three inch long _cub_ fetus. He couldn’t even think about anything else but _what the actual hell?!_ as he had stared at it. He heard the door open and looked up, expecting Ethan. He was surprised, however, by the Sheriff walking out.

“So, how are you holding up?” he asked, looking as if he felt as awkward as was physically possible. “I get it’s a big shock for you-“

“This isn’t even _possible_ ,” Danny stressed, shaking his head incredulously. “It’s just not.”

John shrugged. “Well, I’m pretty sure two months ago I’d have told you werewolves were impossible, but here we are.”

Danny shook his head, sliding off the car as he started pacing. “This isn’t even a thing. Like, this doesn’t _happen_!” 

“It happens all the time, Son,” John said, sitting on the car hood as Danny paced. “Teenage parents aren’t uncommon-“

“ _I’m GAY!_ ” Danny exclaimed. “I’m _gay_ so this was literally never a thing that was ever supposed to happen. This isn’t a thing that is possible. My life was absolutely never meant to include _being a teen dad_ because that’s not biologically even possible-“

John crossed his arms. “And you think Ethan ever thought this was going to be a thing?” he countered. “Look, I get you’re upset, but it’s not like this is something that just happened to you. Ethan is a _man_. That’s also not biologically possible, but it happened. This is a thing that did happen, no matter whether or not it was supposed to, because of magic. _Magic_! That’s more stuff that’s not supposed to be a thing,” he pointed out. “But like it or not, it happened, it is a thing, and you are the father of a werewolf baby.”

Danny stared in surprise. “Well that was a little harsh-“

John rolled his eyes. “Danny, I got _stabbed_ and tied up in a root cellar by a whatever-the-hell-she-was-called and my son nearly died and I nearly died and my friends nearly died and tons of people _did_ die.” He shot him a pointed look. “You can see how teen pregnancy really isn’t that high on my list of ‘fucked up shit’ that’s happened in Beacon Hills.” He sighed. “Look, I get this is monumentally life changing for you. I really do. But you know what?” He pointed at the building. “That kid in there has suffered so much crap in his life and now he’s stuck with a _magical pregnancy_. He may have did some bad crap in the past, but he’s still a kid who had a terrible childhood and I have seen enough of what abused and misguided children end up doing as adults and, the way I see it, he and his brother have a decent chance of _not_ ending up dead before twenty-five.” He shot Danny a look. “I’ve known you and your family as long as I can remember. You have had a good life, Kid. I’m sorry that’s had a wrench thrown in it, but I really hope you’re a decent enough person to recognize that you can either help keep that boy in there from ending up worse than things have been so far, or you can walk away and live with the knowledge that you stood by and did nothing when a person pregnant with _your_ kid slipped off the deep end.”

Danny glowered. “Hey, I may be freaking out but that doesn’t mean I’m going to just walk away from Ethan,” he defended. “I’m not an asshole, I wouldn’t do that to him. I’m allowed to freak out, but that doesn’t mean I’m thinking about bailing.”

John raised an eyebrow, then gave him an approving nod. “That’s good of you, then,” he said, before nodding at the building. “You should probably tell him that. I’m pretty sure he’s expecting you to have skipped town by morning after you walked out like that.”

Danny cursed and turned towards the building. “I really need to work on getting him to trust me,” he muttered as he headed back inside, intent on proving he wasn’t about to run out on Ethan.

~

Danny and Ethan sat side by side on the steps to the Stilinski house. “God, what am I going to tell my parents?” Danny muttered softly.

Ethan laid his head on Danny’s shoulder. “I don’t know.” He squeezed his hand. “I can’t help you. I have no idea how to explain ‘oh yeah, my boyfriend’s having a baby’.”

Danny chuckled almost hysterically. “Oh God, I thought coming out was hard,” he said and Ethan snickered softly.

“Hey mom and dad, remember that time I said I was gay? So, yeah, I’m also gonna be a dad. No I’m not lying on either account,” Ethan joked and Danny laughed, turning to rest his lips against the top of Ethan’s head. Ethan closed his eyes and smiled. “Hey so, we’re having a cub.”

Danny groaned. “Cub. A _cub_. I’m the father of a _cub_.” He whimpered. “Life just got so freaking weird.”

Ethan hummed tiredly. “Well, you can say baby if you want. But werewolves have cubs. _Not_ a pup either. Stiles keeps saying pup. It’s annoying.” He put a hand on his middle. “My cub.”

Danny eyed his hand almost fearfully. “Crap. There’s a cub. Right there. Oh my God, what even?” he asked, and Ethan laughed, sitting up to face him. “How are you so calm?!”

Ethan smiled brightly. “Well, partially because you’re right here,” he explained. “Since I’ve been pregnant, my wolf sees you – the father of my cub – as something safe and comfortable. I sort of instantly relax when you’re near me. So there’s that,” he said, then shrugged. “And I guess more instinct. It’s my _cub_. I freaked out, but when I got more used to it, it’s so nice sensing that it’s in there, nice and safe, where I can feel it.”

Danny looked down at Ethan’s middle. “Can you tell yet?” he asked, and Ethan grinned.

“A little. Like, it’s nowhere near moving or anything, and I’m not fat visibly, but I’m wearing Aiden’s jeans cause he’s a little bigger than me,” he explained. He met Danny’s eyes and smiled worriedly. “What do you think?”

Danny took a breath and blew it out carefully. “I think I’m still panicking,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, don’t think I’m resentful, I just still need to process… everything.”

Ethan’s eyes showed hurt, but he nodded. “I get it. I’ve had a while. You had this all dumped on you today.” He held Danny’s hand tightly. “This isn’t… it’s not going to change things between us, is it?”

Danny smiled sadly. “It changes everything,” he said and Ethan’s eyes dimmed. Danny shook his head quickly. “No, I don’t necessarily mean like that.” He tugged Ethan into a hug, kissing his temple. “It doesn’t make me love you less,” he whispered, and Ethan brightened when he pulled back.

“You love me?” he asked, and Danny grinned shyly, but nodded. Ethan let out a soft laugh, then leaned in, kissing Danny slowly. Danny curled his fingers in Ethan’s hoodie, holding him close even when the kiss broke. “We’ll be okay,” Ethan said resolutely, nose pressed against Danny’s, and Danny nodded.

“I sure hope so.”

~

Ethan and Stiles were on the floor in the living room playing video games when Aiden came in and threw up his arms. “I am employed!” he announced, kicking off his boots before flopping across the couch, laying his head on Ethan’s lap. “I am the man.”

Ethan laughed. “Sweet. What’re you doing?”

Aiden looked so proud when he said, “I am a ticket taker at the movies.” He smirked. “I may only get paid eight-fifty per hour, but I’ve got a job.” He looked at Stiles. “Hey, how long do you think John is willing to let us stay? Cause at that kinda pay for like thirty hours a week isn’t really enough to pay our own rent. Ethan can’t get a job and even if he can get one after the cub is born, where the hell would we get a babysitter who knows about werewolf cubs? And we’d have to pay them so there’s that.”

Stiles shrugged. “A while probably. He likes Ethan,” he said with a snicker. “Ethan’s so nice and polite and sweet and he’s used to me as a kid. Ethan’s like a polite nephew or something.” Stiles nodded his head. “Also, can’t really kick out a dude with a baby.”

Ethan smiled. “He could, he’s just a good guy.”

Aiden shifted in Ethan’s lap, then gasped. “Holy crap, I wasn’t imagining it!” He looked up at Ethan. “Dude, I can hear your cub’s heartbeat!”

“Whoa, really?” Stiles asked and Ethan smiled warmly, nodding.

“At night when it’s really quiet, I can hear it a little when I lay very still.” He put down the controller and laid a hand on his middle. “Here, feel.” He put Aiden’s hand on his middle. 

Aiden sat up and laughed. “Wow, you’re getting fat!” He put a hand on his middle then on Ethan’s. “Yep, totally fat. You’re bigger than me and I’m usually bigger than you.”

Ethan beamed, nodding. “Yep! My cub is trying to make an appearance.” He tapped his tummy. “You’re gonna be big like your dad, aren’t you?”

“Oh hey,” Stiles started. “About that- how are you gonna work on the ‘two dads’ thing? Assuming Danny’s gonna want to be around all the time and not like… distant-dad, what’s the pup gonna call you two?

Ethan huffed. “It’s not a pup, it’s a cub,” he corrected. “And I don’t know. I want to be dad, but I guess Danny can be daddy or dad or whatever he wants.” He hummed and grabbed his phone. “Let’s find out,” he said, and Aiden leaned against his shoulder to read what he was typing. Before he could finish typing, however, the phone buzzed and a message popped up. “Oh hey.” He opened the text and smiled. “Awww speaking of Danny. He says he just pulled up.” He shoved at Aiden. “Go let him in,” he said and Aiden huffed.

“And why should I?” he demanded.

Ethan batted his eyelashes. “Cause I’m pregnant, now go.”

Aiden shot him a flat look. “You’re not even showing yet. You don’t get to pull that-“

“I’m tired because of hormones and all that other stuff, now go!” Ethan said, shoving him. Aiden glared, but did as he said. He smirked. “Yes, I shall milk this for all it’s worth,” he said in an evil villain voice to Stiles, who just laughed.

Aiden came back with Danny. “Here, you put up with his pregnancy complaints, I’m going to go watch a movie,” he said, heading for the stairs. 

Danny smiled and slid down beside Ethan, greeting him with a kiss. “Hey, Babe,” he said, then nodded. “Stiles.”

“Sup,” Stiles said, going back to the game Ethan had abandoned. 

Ethan sighed contentedly as he leaned into Danny’s side. “So hey, we were just talking and I was going to text you, but we were talking about the cub,” he said and Danny smiled slightly as he glanced down at Ethan’s middle. “I want the cub to call me ‘dad’, but what about you?” he asked.

Danny hummed. “Not sure,” he said, putting his feet up on the coffee table in mirror of Ethan. “I didn’t think about it. We’ve got a while still, right?” he asked, and Ethan nodded.

“Thought you said you were getting fat,” Stiles said, killing aliens on the screen even as he spoke.

Danny looked at Ethan and Ethan grinned. “Just a little,” he said, then grabbed Danny’s hand. “Here,” he said, tugging it to put on his middle. “Cup your hand and you can tell I’m a little round instead of flat.”

Danny’s jaw dropped but then he smiled brightly. “Oh wow, is that our cub?” he asked, and Ethan nodded, smiling brightly.

“You called it _our_ cub,” he said and Danny raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never referred to it as yours in any way before.” He leaned in and pecked Danny’s lips. “It’s great to hear you say that.”

Danny shrugged. “I’m starting to get used to the idea.” He stroked his fingers along Ethan’s belly with a small smile. “I’m gonna be a dad.”

Ethan squeaked, he was smiling so big. “I love you,” he said, curling into Danny’s side. He looked up into his eyes. “So have you thought about your parents?” he asked gently.

Danny groaned, dropping his head against Ethan’s. “I don’t know how. They’re gonna freak out.” He looked at Ethan. “Can we wait until you’re obvious?” he suggested. “Then they’ll believe me better.”

Ethan shrugged. “Whatever you wanna do. I just feel like it’ll be harder the longer you wait, Danny.”

Danny hummed. “In better news,” he started, grinning at Ethan. “I know what tomorrow is,” he sing-songed.

Ethan smiled brightly. “You do, huh?”

Stiles tipped his head back. “Is that code for something dirty? Please don’t start talking about sex stuff while I’m in the room.”

Ethan threw a pillow at him. “Stiles!” He chastised. “It’s our birthday.” He turned to Danny with a grin. “Gonna tell me something?”

Danny shook his head with a sly smile. “That’s tomorrow.” He curled their fingers together on his knee. “But I do want to do something for your birthday. It’s a school night so I can’t be out too late, but what do you think. Date night?” he asked.

Ethan nodded, smiling brightly. “Sounds good.” 

~

Ethan stumbled down to the kitchen, yawning and rubbing at his belly, only to stop when he saw Stiles and John waiting at the table. He eyed the cake on the table and frowned. “Huh?” he asked blearily, blinking one eye shut to try and see them more clearly.

John chuckled. “C’mon, it’s your birthday. Everybody deserves a cake on their birthday. Even I get a cake and Stiles hates letting me eat anything that tastes good.”

Aiden shuffled in and bumped into Ethan’s back, frowning. “Ethan, wha?” he asked, shuffling around Ethan, only to stop, staring at the scene in front of them. “What’s this?”

Stiles’s smile faltered. “Have you guys really never had a birthday cake?”

Ethan shrugged. “I know people do that, but… we haven’t,” he said and Aiden shook his head. “We’ve never really celebrated or anything.”

“Nobody ever cared,” Aiden said, voice oddly small as he stared at the cake on the table.

Ethan bit his lip, blinking hard. “You guys- you made us a cake?” he asked, voice strained. 

John shot Stiles a panicked look, and Stiles looked just as freaked out. “It’s just a cake?” John offered, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. He cleared his throat. “So… cake for breakfast?” He grabbed one of the plates and held it out. “Who’s first?”

Ethan let out a soft sound, then put a hand over his mouth. “Oh.”

Aiden made a face, looking at Ethan. “Are you _crying_?” he asked incredulously.

Ethan grunted then punched Aiden in the arm, glaring. “Shut up! I’m pregnant!” he defended, wiping at his eyes with his other hand. “Sorry,” he said, giving John and Stiles a watery smile. “Thank you!” He walked over to the table and sat down beside Stiles, sniffling slightly. “You guys are kind of amazing.”

Stiles awkwardly patted him on the arm. “It’s just a cake, man. It’s okay.”

Ethan snorted, wiping at his face again. “For our last birthday, we considered it our best birthday ever because nobody hit either of us all day, trust me, this is a big deal.”

John groaned. “Ah hell.” He sat down and waved a hand at Aiden. “C’mon, come sit down. Eat the damn cake. I’m going to spend all day going between pissed off at the thought of child abuse and sappy because mine and Stiles’s stupid cake made Ethan cry. Just eat it,” he said, and Aiden smiled, going to sit beside John, kicking at his brother’s feet when he slid into his chair. John slapped him on the shoulder and nodded. “Happy birthday, boys.”

Ethan and Aiden both positively _glowed_ when they smiled at him. “Thank you,” they said in unison, then laughed at each other.

~

Stiles slid into the seat across from Danny at lunch and gave him a look. “Fair warning, Ethan is extremely emotional today. Just letting you know,” he said and Danny raised an eyebrow.

“Did you upset him?” he asked pointed and Stiles glared.

“I resent that-“

“It’s a valid question,” Lydia pointed out and Stiles huffed.

Scott forked up a potato. “Why’s he emotional?”

Stiles pouted. “Dude, it’s their birthday and me and dad made them a cake for breakfast and apparently they’ve never celebrated their birthday before.”

Allison gaped. “ _Never_?”

Stiles shook his head. “Not at all. They said last year was their best birthday ever cause it was the first one where nobody hurt either of them,” he said and Danny paled. “So yeah, Aiden got a little uncomfortable looking, but Ethan started crying. I guess hormones? Either way, whatever you two are doing tonight, just be prepared for possible waterworks.”

Danny smiled and ducked his head. “Yeah, he’s probably gonna cry,” he said, and Stiles raised an eyebrow. “What? I’m not telling you! It’s a surprise and you’ll spill it to him when you get home,” he accused. 

Lydia snorted. “I still can’t believe you’re going to be a dad.” She made a face. “I can’t believe Ethan and Aiden are _twenty_!”

“Speaking of Aiden, what’s up with you two?” Stiles asked. “If anything, because Aiden’s always either at home or at work.”

Lydia shrugged dismissively. “I don’t have time to deal with a guy with a job. Less scheduling conflicts to hook up with guys who are available all the time.” He rolled her eyes. “I’m not looking for a big romance like Danny here.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “You say that like it’s a bad thing-“

“You’re going to be a seventeen year old father, it’s not the best thing,” she said and Danny glared slightly. 

“Hey, I freaked out at first, but even when I was doing the ‘this can’t be happening’ thing, I realized that the whole point of the creepy psycho English teacher making Ethan able to get pregnant in the first place was so that he’d have been _killed_ to distract from her plans.” He shook his head. “I’m more than happy to be a teen father if it means Ethan and our baby didn’t _get murdered_ ,” he whispered to her. “And besides,” he said, then smiled, cheeks showing spots of color. “I’ve had a few weeks to get used to it. I’m gonna be a _dad_ ,” he said in a pleased little voice. “Ethan’s starting to show and it’s kind of awesome cause it’s like… that’s my son or daughter in there.”

Stiles smirked. “It was adorable, oh my God, he totally sat there with a hand on Ethan’s stomach like all night last night,” he said, and Danny gave him a warning look. “What?! It was so cute!”

Danny threw a piece of bread at Stiles, who yelped and nearly fell out of his chair. “Shut up,” he muttered, ducking his head bashfully.

~

Ethan collapsed against Danny’s chest, panting. “God, Danny,” he gasped, his fingers still pressing white marks into Danny’s biceps as he clung to him. “Mmmmm, Danny,” he moaned, smiling when Danny ducked his head and kissed Ethan’s jaw, sliding his hands up Ethan’s back soothingly as he held him close, carefully leaning back against the window so that Ethan’s head didn’t hit the roof of the car.

Danny pressed his lips to Ethan’s face, smiling when Ethan shifted back and met his lips. “Love you,” he whispered against Ethan’s lips, chuckling when Ethan’s smile widened. Danny laughed. “You’re supposed to say ‘oh yes, Danny, I love you, too’,” he said in a mocking, high pitched voice.

Ethan sat up some and slapped at Danny’s arm playfully. “Shut up, I don’t sound like that.”

“Yes you do,” Danny teased, curling his arms around Ethan’s waist, pulling him back in. 

Ethan grinned, sliding his arms around Danny’s neck. “Okay, maybe I have a high voice,” he allowed, then kissed Danny sweetly. “And I do love you.” He bumped their noses together. 

Ethan shivered some and Danny rubbed at his back. “Cold? Here-“ He grabbed the blanket they had been wrapped in before getting sidetracked and curled it around them again. Ethan curled up beside Danny, snuggled into his side rather than hunched over on his lap, curling their legs together as he got comfortable. “Better?”

Ethan nodded. “Definitely.” He bit his lip, smiling at Danny in the dim moonlight. “Officially the best birthday ever,” he said and Danny gave him a warm smile.

“Good,” he said firmly, reaching down into the floor of the backseat to find his jacket. “I did get you a present though,” he said and Ethan gave him a blinding, excited smile.

“Wait, really?! That’s so cool!” Ethan said, bouncing slightly. “I’ve never got a birthday present before,” he said, and Danny’s smile faltered slightly. He hated being reminded how rough Ethan’s life had been so far.

Danny pulled Ethan close and kissed him gently. “Well this year you have one,” he said, kissing Ethan’s forehead as he pressed the box he’d retrieved from his jacket into his hand. “Okay,” he started as Ethan untied the red ribbon around the white box. “It’s cheesy and so ‘high school’, but it’s kind of a thing for guys to do, and I know it’s kind of a ‘girlfriend’ thing too, but I like to think that’s mostly just because there aren’t many out guys in major sports so… yeah,” he blushed slightly as Ethan opened the box. “Happy birthday,” he muttered bashfully.

Ethan’s smile softened and he bit his lip as he carefully lifted the silver chain out of the little bed of tissue paper in the box. “Oh wow, this is like a big thing, right?” He put the box aside and laid the silver pendant ‘6’ on his palm. “It’s the ‘giving the girl his number’ thing?” he asked and Danny nodded bashfully.

“It’s so lame, I know, but it’s kind of a thing for me.” He stroked Ethan’s bangs away from his face. “I’ve never given a guy my number before. I’ve never loved anybody like I love you.” He smiled sweetly. “Even if we weren’t having a cub, I’d still want to be with you forever, Ethan.”

Ethan’s face split in a bright, glowing smile so beautiful Danny’s breath stopped. “I wanna be with you forever, too,” he whispered breathlessly, tears twinkling in his eyes. He cleared his throat and unclasped the necklace, putting it around his neck, and then letting it rest against his chest. Danny touched where the silver six rested against Ethan’s chest and smiled.

“See? Now you’ve got my number.”

Ethan snickered, giving Danny a playful smirk. “My boyfriend the jock,” he teased, stroking at the hair at the nape of Danny’s neck. “It’s so weird.”

Danny nodded at his number on Ethan’s chest. “Hey, I may have my weird ‘jock’ superstitions, but usually that’s a one-year anniversary gift, not a ‘it hasn’t even been four months but I love you anyhow and you’re having my baby, so here, happy birthday!’ present,” he joked.

Ethan grinned. “It really hasn’t been four months yet. God, I feel like I’ve known you forever,” he said, curling against Danny’s chest, resting his head on Danny’s shoulder. “It’s like from the first time I kissed you, you were in my soul and under my skin and I had known you so long you were instantly part of me.”

Danny nodded, resting his cheek against Ethan’s head. “I know exactly what you mean.”

~

Ethan was nervous about going to eat Christmas eve dinner at Danny’s house with his family. He hadn’t really met them before and it was more than a little terrifying to imagine what they might think of him. He held Danny’s hand through the first, nervous introductions to his parents. Danny’s mother, however, greeted him warmly. “Welcome, Ethan,” she said, smiling a smile almost identical to Danny’s. “It’s wonderful to finally met you. Danny talks about you all the time,” she said and Danny blushed.

“Moooom,” he whined and she just grinned.

Danny’s father gestured to the dining room. “Come sit. We’re almost ready to eat,” he said, and Danny led Ethan to the table. “We aren’t expecting anybody else tonight. Most of the family will come tomorrow for dinner,” he said.

Danny nudged Ethan when they entered the dining room and the only person there already was an old lady. “Ethan, this is my grandmother, Lona Mahealani. Tutu, this is my boyfriend, Ethan,” he introduced, smiling nervously.

The old woman – and she did appear to be very old, Ethan was surprised by how old even – eyed him curiously. “Hello,” she said simply. Ethan got the feeling she wanted to say more, but he went with Danny around the table to sit.

Ethan answered Mr. and Mrs. Mahealani’s questions more or less, until suddenly Danny’s grandmother interrupted Danny’s mom mid-sentence. “What is a Kaupe doing dating my grandson?” she demanded of Ethan, who just froze. Danny’s father choked on his wine, slapping a hand over his mouth, while Danny frowned.

“A what?” he asked, looking at his father, who had wiped his face and turned to his mother.

“Mama, come on, what are you talking about?!” he demanded. “That’s ridiculous to even say-“

“But he is!” She gestured to Ethan. “I know a Kaupe when I sense one!” she said and Danny and Ethan both froze.

“Sense?” Danny asked almost fearfully. “Tutu, what do you-“

“The Kaupe sitting right there!” she said, then shook her head. “If your father had just let me teach you-“

“Mama, I was not going to let my son’s childhood be full of your superstition,” Mr. Mahealani argued, cheeks pink. “Ethan, I apologize for my mother-“

“The Kaupe knows what he is!” she said. She looked at Danny. “My grandfather was Kahuna lapa'au for his village, so I did learn all about what all was out there, and that boy is a Kaupe!”

Danny looked at his father questioningly and he sighed. “A Kaupe is a type of dog-man that was more like a spirit. It ate people.” He glared at his mother. “I highly doubt Danny’s boyfriend _eats people_ ,” he chastised.

Danny and Ethan shared a look, then Ethan looked back at the old woman, who gave him a knowing look. “You know I’m right,” she said and Ethan shrank back some.

He looked at Danny, sliding his hand into Danny’s under the table. “Danny,” he muttered softly, looking up into his eyes worriedly. “Maybe I should go,” he muttered softly.

Danny smiled sadly. “Let’s just go out in the hall until they stop arguing?” he suggested and Ethan nodded. “We’ll let you guys finish talking,” he said louder, smiling forcedly at his dad. 

When they stood, however, Ethan twisted to slide between his and Danny’s seats and Danny’s grandmother gasped, pointing. “What is _that_?!”

Ethan looked down and paled at how the angle his body was turned made his belly more prominent that it usually was. He stumbled back from between the chairs and curled his arms over his middle, looking at her fearfully. Danny looked between the two, then deflated, letting his head hang. “We should probably talk.”

Danny’s mother stood up. “Oh stop, your grandmother won’t call your boyfriend outrageous names or make jabs about his weight anymore, let’s just sit and finish dinner-“

Danny shook his head, sliding his hand into Ethan’s. “No, we should probably just talk about something,” he said in defeat. Ethan squeezed his fingers and leaned into his side.

~

Danny finished, with Ethan nearly hiding his face behind his shoulder. “So… yeah. That’s about it.”

Danny’s parents stared in something akin to horror and his grandmother glared accusingly. “So you’re not a Kaupe, but something worse,” she said and Ethan gave her a hurt look.

Danny glowered. “You said a Kaupe eats people. Ethan is not ‘worse’ than a spirit that eats people!”

“No, he’s just draining your life in another way,” she countered. “Ruining a bright boy’s future-“

Danny spluttered. “What?! How is Ethan ruining my future-“

“Well, Danny, it sure changes a lot that you’re going to be a _teenage parents_!” his mother pointed out. “Really, the one thing I never thought to have to worry about-“

“And you think we did?!” Danny demanded. “What part of ‘magic’ don’t you get? I know it’s hard to believe, but what else do you wanna think? That two guys randomly conceived a baby together?” He took a calming breath. “Look, I’m not stupid, we were safe. This was something neither of us could control so don’t you go and blame Ethan for this! He’s the one that had some psycho try and get him killed by making him magically able to get pregnant.”

Ethan ducked his eyes. “I’m- I’m really sorry this had to happen to Danny,” he said weakly. “I know it’s- it’s a big deal, but-“

“But nothing.” Danny squeezed his hand. “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s not your fault, it’s not my fault, it’s just something that happened. It’s all going to be just fine,” Danny said softly, kissing Ethan’s temple soothingly. “It’s all going to be okay, I promise.” Danny turned, glaring at his parents and grandmother, almost as if daring them to speak up. 

Danny’s mother put her head in her hands, then pushed her hair back. “Okay, okay.” She took a breath. “Have you thought about what’s going to happen? Have you considered… I don’t even know. How are you going to take care of a baby? I’m not trying to sound harsh, but you’re teenagers. I promise, I’m not suggesting anything,” she started, giving them an earnest look. “But… have you considered adoption?” she said gently.

Ethan gaped, and Danny shot her a dark look. “Mom!”

“It’s not a suggestion!” she said quickly. “I’m just asking-“

“Even if a werewolf cub wasn’t in danger around humans who don’t know what’s going on,” Ethan started, animatedly speaking up for the first time. “I would _never_ give my cub away!” he snapped, hand protectively over his middle. “Besides,” he added, shrinking back some. “I’m not a teenager,” he admitted. “I’m actually twenty. I was just pretending to be a high school student for all of that stuff.”

Danny’s parents looked even more exasperated. “Great, so you’ve been dating an adult, too,” Mr. Mahealani said and Danny rolled his eyes. He looked at Ethan. “What about your parents? You haven’t mentioned them at all.”

Ethan shook his head sadly. “Don’t have any. Don’t have a pack anymore either,” he muttered. He shrugged. “Just me and my brother.”

Mr. Mahealani raised an eyebrow. “Two twenty year olds who were recently masquerading as high school kids? Where do you live? How are you getting by?”

“We live with Sheriff Stilinski,” Ethan explained. “He overheard the ‘me being pregnant’ reveal to some others and when he found out we couldn’t afford rent on the apartment we were in, he took us in. My brother’s got a job, but I couldn’t since I’m going to be unable to hide being pregnant for long and I’m a man.”

Mrs. Mahealani looked surprised. “The _Sheriff_ knows about all this- this ‘werewolf’ stuff?” 

Danny nodded. “His son is involved in all of it. He’s not a werewolf, but a lot of kids at school have been involved so… well the Sheriff isn’t stupid,” he said, shrugging. “It’s good to know Ethan and the baby are safe with him, anyways.”

Danny’s parents both shared looks, before Mrs. Mahealani spoke up. “Danny… what is all this going to mean?” she asked, looking between them. “This is life changing. You’re going to be a _parent_ ,” she stressed. “What is that going to mean for school? You’re only a junior. And then college beyond that. Ethan, I’m sure the Sheriff’s help is great, but what are you going to do as far as actually finding a place to live and worrying about childcare and your future?”

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said simply. “Honestly, surviving this long wasn’t really in mine and Aiden’s realistic expectations, so we never planned for ‘real life’. But whatever happens, I’ll figure it out. If nothing else, Aiden’s always going to be there. We can manage.”

“No, because I’m going to be there too,” Danny said firmly, then raised an challenging eyebrow at his parents. 

His mom spluttered. “What about college?! Danny, you can’t expect to stay around here and skip _college_! You’ve got a good chance for scholarships!”

Danny shrugged. “We’ll find a way to deal with that.” He shook his head. “This is my kid too. I’m going to be a dad. I don’t care how much I freaked out to start with, this is our _baby_. I’ll work something out. I mean, there are ways to work around that. Lots of people go to college when they’ve got children. It isn’t impossible.”

His parents looked less than thrilled, but Danny’s grandmother sighed, and nodded. “Alright,” she said, then looked at Ethan. “So, when will we be greeting Danny’s child?” she asked, and Ethan smiled shyly in spite of himself.

He curled his arms around his middle and smiled excitedly. “From what I’ve worked out about werewolf pregnancy, assuming things are on track since it’s magical, should be in June.”

Danny nodded. “Which is good. That means school will be over. I won’t be distracted from finals,” he said for his parents benefit. 

Danny’s mother sighed and nodded. “Well at least there’s that,” she said sadly, shaking her head. “I just never thought-“

“This isn’t a bad thing,” Danny defended. He put his arm around Ethan. “Whatever you think, this is _not_ bad. It’s unexpected, and inconvenient, but no matter what, our cub is not a bad thing.” 

Ethan smiled at Danny, even if his parents just stared, so Danny didn’t care too much how it came across to his family.

~

Ethan smiled brightly as Stiles dramatically swung his lacrosse stick in demonstration of Danny blocking a shot. “And it was like ‘WOOO DANNY!’ and Coach was all ‘THAT’S OUR GAY KID! YAY GAY KIDS’ and it was probably offensive really, but it was funny either way, and-“ Stiles was cut off by his bedroom window sliding open and a leather-clad figure sliding in. “OH MY GOD!” Stiles cried in a high voice, before freezing.

Ethan stared, raising an eyebrow as Derek Hale stood tall. “What the hell?” Ethan asked and Stiles’s shock turned to a glower of near-rage. “Uh-oh, Stiles is pissed,” he muttered and Stiles threw his lacrosse stick at Derek, who yelped.

“STILES!” he cried, and Stiles walked over and picked it up, then hit him with it again.

“What the ACTUAL hell?!” he snapped. “You’re gone for _nearly four months_ and then you casually roll up in my _bedroom_?!” he demanded. “Are you on CRACK?!”

Derek rolled his eyes. “I called you like four times and you didn’t answer so when I got back in town, I figured I’d come over. What?” he asked and Stiles just gaped.

“You called me and I didn’t answer so you _figured you would come over._ ” Stiles hit him again just for effect, then turned and headed to his desk chair, throwing the stick into the corner. “You are such an asshole.”

“I _tried_ to call-“

“MY PHONE DIED BUT THAT DOESN’T GIVE YOU PERMISSION-“

“Ow, don’t yell,” Ethan whined, covering his ears. “Sensitive hearing, hello!” He put a hand on his belly and rubbed at it. “Yeah, I know, Stiles is loud, huh?” he said softly.

Derek seemed to finally notice Ethan laying on the bed and his eyes were glued to Ethan’s middle. “Uh… the hell?” he asked, gesturing to Ethan and turning to Stiles. “Why is one of the murder twins on your bed and why does he look… pregnant.”

Stiles stood up and walked over to flop beside Ethan. “Cause the not-murder-anymore twins live with me and my dad,” he said. “And Ethan is pregnant,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Thanks to your psycho ex, I might add,” he said and Derek rolled his eyes. “What the hell are you doing back here?” he demanded.

Derek sighed dramatically. “Because Cora pissed off some hunters up in Washington and apparently they knew the name ‘Hale’ so they’re coming here. I came to warn Scott, but he won’t answer, and when I called you and you wouldn’t answer, I figured you guys might be in trouble.” He pointed at Ethan. “And explain the pregnant part and how the hell that happened?”

Ethan smirked. “Wellll when two daddies love each other _very much_ and one daddy was on the bad side of a deranged psycho druid with super powerful magic who wanted to kill his pack and thought it was a good idea to make him get pregnant so that it would tear the pack apart and make us easy to defeat…. Baby,” he finished lamely, pointing at his belly.

Stiles smiled and reached out, putting a hand on Ethan’s belly. “You gonna kick for me, you little shit?” he asked and Ethan glared. “Sorry, you little sweet baby cub,” he amended.

Derek just continued to stare. “There is a baby. In a boy.”

Ethan sighed and sat up some. “Hale, I’m six months pregnant, I don’t think you get to freak out over this. You come back and freak out when you’ve got a squirmy cub inside of you. I can’t see my feet anymore, Hale. You think _you_ are freaked?!” He snorted, flopping back against the pillows. “Or worse, when your boyfriend’s creepy Hawaiian grandmother _sensed_ you weren’t human and started spouting how you were a dog-creature that ate people and suddenly you’re telling your seventeen year old boyfriend’s parents that, in spite of being gay and having safe sex, they’re gonna be grandparents, and by the way, the pregnant one is a twenty year old werewolf!”

Stiles giggled. “Yep! I’ve heard this story a dozen times. It sounds just as great every time!” He huffed and glowered at Ethan’s belly. “Dude, Pup, why won’t you kick me?”

Ethan chuckled. “Don’t feel bad. It won’t kick for Danny either. He was so excited when the cub kicked where you could feel it outside, but he’s been trying for weeks now and it won’t ever kick when he’s there to feel it. Only me and Aiden have felt it.”

Derek stared. “Did you two miss where I said _hunters_ are coming to Beacon Hills?” he asked.

Ethan looked up and shrugged. “We’ll be fine. Between the Argents and John having the Sheriff’s Department at his disposal, we haven’t had any real problems so far. We had a few vampires come to town-“

“Yeah, Vampires are a thing that exists,” Stiles pointed out. “Thanks for the warning.”

Ethan continued. “But oddly enough, when they found out there was a whole werewolf pack claiming this as territory, they decided to back off and keep moving through.”

Derek just gaped. “You’re _pregnant_ with a cub and you’re just all ‘eh, the Argents and the Sheriff can handle it’?!” he demanded. “Last I knew, you two evil little shits were just as intent on killing the rest of us as anything, but you’re totally fine with your own life being in danger-“

“I just think they’re competent,” Ethan argued. “And I was never intent on killing anybody. We did what we had to do to survive. I regret every innocent person I hurt, but the fact of it is, Aiden and I did what we had to do to live.” He shook his head. “Don’t you talk to me about ‘intent on killing’ shit. I’m lucky enough Aiden and I aren’t out standing on street corners to pay the rent as it is,” he snapped. “I’m not fine with my life being in danger, I’m not fine with the others being in danger, but since you’ve been gone, we’re doing pretty well. Aiden and I aren’t part of their pack, but living with Stiles and John tells us enough about what all’s happening and as it is, they’re defending the territory well.”

Stiles nodded. “Scott and I have some protective wards set up around everybody’s houses, there’s patrols every night along the town borders, and any unofficial visitors tend to contact Chris Argent and any sneaky characters get stopped on dark roads by my dad so he can threaten them. We’re doing well.” He tossed up a hand. “We did have hunters come through, but Chris and Allison told them in no uncertain terms they wouldn’t help them and would instead do everything they could to stop them if they tried to hurt anybody.”

Ethan snickered when he saw the consternation on Derek’s face. “Don’t worry. It isn’t Scott being a better alpha than you were. It’s Stiles and his Dad mostly.”

Stiles smirked. “Yep! Stilinski’s are very crafty individuals.” He pouted at Ethan’s tummy. “Your Pup hates me,” he sighed, giving up. He stood up and walked over to Derek. “Okay, look, we’ll take your information and start preparing. Thanks,” he said, and then eyed Derek. “So, why did you come here instead of go to Scott?”

Derek grumbled begrudgingly. “Because you’re the one who actually gets crap done,” he admitted and Stiles smirked.

“Why Derek Hale, calling me awesome-“

“Don’t make me hit you,” Derek said, brushing past him on his way to the window. 

Ethan eyed him curiously. “You can use the door, you know?” He eyed Stiles curiously. “Why does Derek feel the need to sneak in your window, huh?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows pointedly. “Whatever happened to ‘token virgin’-“

“Wow, no!” Stiles said in a comically high voice. “Derek snuck in my room cause my dad was trying to arrest him, oh my God, ETHAN!” 

Derek was bright red. “That is- wow, just… _no_ ,” he stressed, and Ethan cackled evilly.

“You two are the most fun ever-“ He was cut off by Derek’s phone starting to ring at the same time his did on the desk. “Hey Stiles, get my phone,” he said. He sat up, but immediately cried out, grabbing his side. 

“Ethan?!” Stiles cried, rushing to his side. “Ethan, what’s wrong? Is it the baby-“

“Answer the phone!” Ethan growled, eyes flashing red. Stiles immediately realized what happened and rushed back to the phone, answering it.

Derek looked up from his phone. “Shit, Cora found Scott and the others and led the hunters right to them. Damn it!” 

Stiles paled. “Ethan, it’s-“

“Aiden, I know,” he said, struggling to stand, hand on his ribs. “C’mon,” he said, going to the door. “We’ve gotta go, we have to-“

“Are you crazy?! You’re six months pregnant, you can’t possibly fight,” Stiles argued.

Ethan wheeled on him, eyes flashing. “I’m sure as hell not sitting here while Aiden is hurt.”

Derek hung up. “There’s no fight, they got a few lucky shots and then ran for it. Cora’s taking them to McCall’s house.” He walked over to Stiles and grabbed him by the arm, shoving him at the door. “Come on, let’s go-“

“Ow, watch the manhandling!” Stiles complained, though Ethan just grabbed him instead, shoving him along in front of him.

~

Ethan and Stiles were the first to burst through the door, bouncing off of each other slightly. Stiles tripped over the carpet and fell flat on his face as Ethan skidded slightly. “Scott?!” he called out, rushing towards the kitchen, paling when he saw Allison digging a bullet out of Aiden’s side while Scott helped Cora hold him still. “Oh God, Aiden!” he cried, rushing forward.

Aiden was clearly in pain but he shook his head. “I’m okay, I’m fine,” he gritted out even as his claws dug into Scott’s arm. Scott clenched his jaw but otherwise didn’t show his pain. 

Ethan stepped up closer, careful of Allison on her knees trying to get out the bullet, and he grabbed Aiden’s wrist, pulling his hand from Scott’s arm. “It’s okay,” he soothed, curling their fingers together. “It’s okay, Aiden. You’re fine.” Aiden growled through his teeth and he dropped his head to Ethan’s shoulder. Ethan curled the other hand in Aiden’s hair, holding onto him. “It’s fine. They’re almost done,” he said, looking to see. Allison nodded, pulling out another bullet fragment.

“Yeah, I’m nearly done.” She pulled out a last piece of the bullet then reached out to grab a vial. “This isn’t going to feel good,” she said, before rubbing the wolfsbane into the bullet wound and lighting it. 

Aiden cried out, nails digging into Ethan’s hand, before he finally relaxed some against his brother and the two holding him. “Oh God that’s not fun,” he panted, pulling away. “Shit, I’m sorry,” he said to Ethan and Scott when he looked at their hands.

Ethan shrugged, shaking out his hand, which was already healing. “It’s fine,” he said, then stepped back. “What the hell happened?” he asked the room at large. “Derek said there were hunters coming, but what the hell?!”

Cora cringed. “They followed me and I led them right to where Scott and Isaac were at the movies. I was going to find Scott, and they came for us when Scott and Isaac walked outside. Aiden was getting off work apparently and when they started chasing us, we ran down a few streets before they finally got off a few shots. One hit Aiden and we realized they were wolfsbane bullets pretty quickly.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “Why the hell were you two going to the movies after a lacrosse game? I was exhau- oh yeah, werewolves.” He rolled his eyes. “Freaking werewolves.” He shook his head. “Okay, so we called Allison I see. Did we call her dad and mine?”

Scott nodded. “We will definitely need them on this one.” He looked at Ethan pointedly. “And you! Why did you come here?”

Ethan glowered. “I could feel my brother in pain, what the hell do you think I was going to do?”

“Not put your cub in danger, that’s for sure-“

“I came to your house, not out chasing down hunters, my cub is safe,” Ethan countered. “You let me worry about my cub, huh?” he growled, flashing his eyes. “I know a hell of a lot more about how safe my cub is than you do, McCall.” 

“Cub?” Cora asked with a frown. “How do you have a cub? Who with?” she asked.

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Long story,” he said, then unzipped his jacket, showing her his belly. “But my cub,” he said, putting a hand on his middle, turning to the side to show her. “See? Pregnant.”

Cora raised an eyebrow. “Damn,” she said, and Derek nodded. “Well shit. That just made things worse.”

“Damn straight,” Stiles said, ruffling his hair. “Okay, so, hunters that Cora pissed off. Thanks for that,” he said and Cora flipped him off.

“Bite me, Stilinski,” she said, knocking into his shoulder on the way past and back out into the hall.

Stiles groaned, rubbing at his arm. “Nope, no forgetting who her brother is,” he said, glowering at Derek as if Cora’s very existence was his fault. “Alright, let’s wait for my dad to get here and then we’ll work this all out.”

~

Ethan was surprised when Danny came in with John on his heels. “Ethan?! Are you okay?” he asked, rushing to him.

Ethan gaped. “What? What the hell? Why are you here?”

John rolled his eyes. “Apparently on the way here Stiles texted him and he somehow beat me here from all the way across town,” he said, giving him a pointed look. 

Danny shrugged. “Stiles just said there were hunters and that you guys were coming here because Aiden got hurt. What the hell did you think I’d do, Ethan?” he asked. He curled his arms around Ethan, hugging him close. “You’re fine, right?”

Ethan snickered. “Yes, Danny, I’m fine.” He tilted his face up to peck Danny’s lips. “Everything’s fine with me. It’s the others who have to actually go out in public when there’s hunters in town now.”

Danny turned to look at the others, arms still around Ethan. “Oh yeah, sorry, everybody else good too?” he asked. “Not trying to ignore you but… well, you know, Ethan’s more important to me,” he said with a sheepish shrug.

Stiles smiled. “Awwww you guys are still the cutest thing ever.” He waved a hand. “It’s all good for the moment. Cora just pissed off hunters and they came looking for her here since they knew she and Derek were from around here.”

Danny followed his hand, then frowned. “I thought his name was Miguel,” he said and Stiles blinked in realization that Danny had never connected the name ‘Derek Hale’ to him, then burst out laughing as Derek’s ears turned red and he glared harder at Stiles.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Miguel?”

Stiles was laughing so hard he nearly fell over, flailing. “This- This one time- one- I made Derek- I made him- I- HAHAHA!” Stiles doubled over, laying half into Scott’s lap. “Oh it’s too good!”

Danny just blushed slightly, rolling his eyes. “Stiles wanted me to do something for him and I didn’t want to get in trouble so I tried to leave but he kind of… told me that was his cousin Miguel then made him take his shirt off so I wouldn’t want to leave yet,” he said and Scott snorted.

“Whoa, really?! HA!” He shook Stiles by the arm. “Stiles, Stiles you’re my hero!”

John crossed his arms. “And why was Derek Hale in your bedroom, Stiles?” he demanded, and Stiles immediately sobered, sitting up straight. John cocked an eyebrow and Stiles paled.

“I can totally explain-“

“You better,” John said, but shook his head. “But later. Right now let’s worry about hunters.” He shot Derek a dark look. “Potential shotgun wielding can wait,” he muttered ominously.

Ethan just eyed Derek and tilted his head. “I would be jealous Derek showed you his shirtless hot body, but I’m pretty sure everybody’s seen him shirtless at some point in this town.” Ethan looked up at Danny with a grin. “Stiles is a horrible person, isn’t he?”

Danny groaned. “You don’t even know it yet. You haven’t lived around him long enough, even if you do share a house.” Everybody moved to take places around the living room and Danny sat in the arm chair, pulling Ethan into his lap. 

Ethan sat sideways across Danny’s legs and smiled blindingly when Danny put a hand on his belly and leaned down, pressing a kiss to his shirt. “Hey there, baby,” he mumbled softly, greeting the cub like it was an everyday thing. “I’m glad you and your dad are safe.”

Ethan squeaked slightly, then pulled Danny into a kiss. “You’re the best thing ever,” he gushed, hugging him so hard it must’ve hurt. “Never change, okay?”

Danny smiled and nodded. “I’ll try not to.” 

~

Ethan huffed, glaring when he walked into the kitchen and found John and Derek reading opposite halves of the paper. “This is so stupid,” he grunted as he passed the dining room door.

John chuckled. “Sorry kid, but as long as there are hunters around, there’s gotta be at least one wolf and one human with you at all times.”

“I never leave the house,” Ethan argued, grabbing a box of Fruity Pebbles and a bowl. “It’s been a _month_. How haven’t you killed them yet?”

John shot him a look. “Catch and scare, not kill.”

Ethan made a face. “Yeah but they’re killers. Just kill them and get it over with. That’s not even the former-murderer in me, it’s the ‘faced genocide my whole life’ thing.” He nodded at Derek. “You know what I mean.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “They’re still humans and if we kill them we’ll be called killers, too.” He shot him a look. “Should you be eating that?” he asked, and Ethan looked at his technicolor mess of quickly-becoming-mushy cereal. “Your cub is going to have like three arms,” he said and Ethan glowered.

“Jump up my ass, Hale, I can eat whatever I want,” he said, slamming the bowl on the table as he sat down and proceeded to shove a giant scoop in his mouth, glaring at Derek the whole time.

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re only three years younger than me, not ten?” Ethan flipped him off. Derek looked at John seriously. “Tell me the truth, it’s like having an extra Stiles, isn’t it?”

John shook his head. “Oh no, Ethan’s way nicer than Stiles. Aiden’s messier than Stiles and Ethan’s nicer than Stiles. They’re both way quieter, too,” he said as he took a bite out of his bacon.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Is that real bacon? You know better than to eat that!” Ethan nagged and John shot him a look.

“I lied,” he said, looking at Derek. “It’s exactly like having two of Stiles.”

Ethan shrugged. “Stiles just doesn’t want you to have a heart attack, dude.”

John shot him a look. “ _Dude_? Oh my God, you really do spend way too much time with Stiles.”

Derek looked at the plate, then rolled his eyes. “Okay maybe there is a point there,” he said, gesturing to the bacon. “Got two orphans in the house already. Don’t need a third,” he said reluctantly.

John shot him a glare. “Et tu, Derek?” He shook his head and pushed away the bacon. “Fine, I live in a house full of bacon Nazis.”

Ethan reached out and stole one of the pieces, crunching on it. “Look at it this way,” he said around a mouthful of bacon. “You’ll live to see my cub terrorize Stiles without this stuff,” he said, eating the rest of it in one bite. “Mmmm so good,” he moaned, eating the last piece in two bites.

John snorted. “Oh yeah, it’s all about _my_ health,” he said and Ethan colored slightly. He bit his lip, fighting a smile. “So... you’re at that point in pregnancy? The ‘eat anything that sits still’ point?”

Ethan ducked his head. “Shut up, I’m hungry,” he mumbled, standing up, rubbing at his belly as he took his bowl and the empty bacon plate to the sink, eyeing the cookie jar longingly. “You’re making me fat, Cub,” he mumbled softly. “What’s your daddy gonna think when I’m all fat?” he cooed, smiling when the cub wiggled around. “Yeah, you hear me talking to you, huh?” He walked back to the table, having broken down and grabbed a cookie and some milk, looking at the two men who had swapped paper portions. “So Derek, you ever been around cubs? Is it gonna be an issue for the others to have a cub not from their pack around?” he asked.

Derek looked up. “Shouldn’t be. You might be the one with the issue though. My mom didn’t let my sister or my brother leave the house until they were like two because she couldn’t stand having other people near them.” He shrugged. “Might not be that much of a problem with you though. Your mate is a human so you have to share the cub with non-pack anyways to let his family see it.”

Ethan hummed. “You’ve got a brother?” he asked and Derek tensed. “Oh shit!” Ethan remembered what Stiles had told him and slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh my God, I’m sorry-“

Derek shook his head, taking a breath. “It’s fine.”

John looked at him curiously. “Stiles said your brother was human. Is that even possible?” he asked.

Derek nodded. “Yes, sir.” He cleared his throat. “My dad was bit, not born. So there was human DNA there. It’s rare for werewolves to have a human child, but my brother was human. Me and Cora and Laura were werewolves. My aunt and uncle and their kids were humans. My dad’s family. My mom was Peter’s sister.”

Ethan hummed. “So my cub might not be a cub?” he asked, looking at his belly absently.

Derek shrugged. “I could be a human baby, but like I said, it’s really rare.”

Ethan nodded. “It’s so weird it’s only one,” he said, and they gave him strange looks. He shrugged. “Like, I know one baby is normal, but it’s the fact that it’s _only_ gonna be one cub ever. I can’t have more cubs without magic and Danny’s a human boy so that’s not happening either. I can’t imagine being the only one. Life without Aiden would be unimaginable. I don’t know if I could even imagine life if something happened to him.”

Derek flinched slightly. “Trust me, you don’t wanna find out,” he muttered, looking resolutely at the paper. “That’s the main reason, no matter how much of an annoyance Cora is and how much she keeps getting us into trouble, I won’t ever complain. It’s so nice having a sibling again.”

John shrugged. “Well, maybe it’s a matter of having them already. I never had any brothers or sisters and it wasn’t so bad. Stiles is an only child and he’s never complained,” he pointed out. “I don’t know if he would’ve always been if things had worked differently with my wife, but he probably would’ve still been an only child.”

Ethan looked up. “What happened with your wife anyhow? Stiles never talks about his mom and nobody else does either,” he said, and Derek jerked his head, up shaking his head frantically in small motions.

John’s hands clenched on the paper but he didn’t lift his eyes. “She died, Ethan.” Ethan paled, cringing when Derek gave him a glare. John smiled sadly down at the paper. “She was diagnosed with cancer when he was six and died when he was eight.”

Ethan blinked, shocked when he felt a lump growing in his throat. “Oh,” he said softly. He looked down at his half-eaten cookie and looked at his belly and imagined his cub growing up without either him or Danny, and suddenly he pictured _Stiles_ as a little boy without his _mom_ and even if he’d never had a mom, the idea of Stiles growing up without one suddenly had his eyes brimming with tears. Ethan bit back a sound, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Gotta go,” he choked out as he shoved his chair back and all but ran from the room, barely getting to the stairs before he started _crying_. 

He rushed upstairs to his and Aiden’s room and crawled into Aiden’s bed, curling up around his brother’s pillow as he cried.

~

Ethan sighed from his spot on Stiles’s bed. “Stiles, why does pregnancy have to be so dumb?” he asked and Stiles snorted from his spot at his desk, doing his homework. “I keep _crying_ and _eating_ and then I thought about Danny at lacrosse practice and he’s always really cute when he’s in his uniform and it made me really happy to think our cub might be really cute in a sports outfit some day and I just started smiling like an idiot.” He rolled onto his side, facing Stiles. “This is so dumb.”

Stiles chuckled. “I don’t know, other than the last part, it sounds like normal living to me.” He blushed slightly. “I cry all the time, dude. I don’t even know why I cry so much. Like, I tear up over anything slightly upsetting and with a life like mine, everything is upsetting.” He tipped himself back in his chair. “You’d think I would be used to sad and upsetting shit in my life, man. My life has been upsetting more often than not. But sure enough, something bad happens, I start crying.” He grinned. “And I’m a seventeen year old boy, when do we ever stop eating?”

Ethan whined. “But I’m eating EVERYTHING and I’m still hungry and then I get all emotional and have to go nap in Aiden’s bed to calm down when he’s at work!” He sat up and pouted at Stiles. “I’m so bored too. Seriously. Also, I don’t even get sex anymore!”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “At least you were getting sex to start with,” he muttered, then turned to look at Ethan. “Also, not that I ever want to know about yours and Danny’s bedroom habits, but why not?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure with the amount of adrenaline and testosterone in an athletic guy like Danny, he’s not gonna say _no_ just cause you’re… shaped different” he said gently.

Ethan snorted. “It’s not cause I’m fat as much as too fat to have sex in a back seat,” he said pointedly. “I share a bedroom with my brother. There’s no sex going on in there. I can’t exactly climb in Danny’s window anymore, so there’s no sex going on there either.” He gestured to his belly. “And I’m eight months pregnant, this makes it impossible to have sex in a back seat.” He frowned. “Well, okay, not good sex.”

Stiles just snickered. “Dude you better get whatever sex you can before the Pup’s born. Good sex, bad sex, boring sex. It’s all sex.”

Ethan hummed. “You know, when you say sex that many times in a row it stops sounding like a real word.”

Stiles sighed dramatically. “Sadly for me, it may as well not be.” He slumped. “Dude, I’m going to be a high school senior who is a virgin. I just know it. Kill me!”

Ethan shrugged. “Have sex with Derek.” The window slid open and he looked over to see Derek stepping into the room. “Oh speak of the devil! Hey Derek, Stiles wants to have sex with you,” he said and Derek froze, halfway to standing, turning a very confused look on them both.

Stiles spluttered. “I DON’T WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH DEREK!” He turned to Derek, only to see an offended eyebrow raised. “Not that I want to NOT have sex with you! You’re a very- very sexable dude,” he floundered. “I just don’t WANT to have sex with you not that you’re non-sexy. Just… no sex. Like me with you, cause you can have all the sex you want. Oh God.” Stiles put his head in his hands. “Ethan, make me stop talking.”

Ethan just cackled at how red they both turned. “Well Derek should stop creeping in your window then if you two aren’t screwing.” He sighed. “I want sex! Someone needs to give me sex!”

“See, that’s what got you in this mess in the first place,” Stiles said pointedly. “Also, have you _seen_ Danny?! Your boyfriend could snap a guy in half for putting his hands on you!” He nodded at Derek. “Dude, Danny could probably break _Derek_ ”

Derek shot him a look. “Doubtful.”

Ethan smirked. “I dunno, love makes a man crazy. Danny could probably at least injure you,” he said confidently. He sighed, curling up some. “I miss Danny.”

“You saw him yesterday,” Stiles pointed out.

Ethan pouted. “Yeah, and I’m pregnant with his cub, I feel like I should be able to turn around and have him right there. Instinct man. It’s freaking weird.” He rubbed his belly. “He talks to the cub and I get all sappy and giggly. I’m an alpha werewolf, but I feel safer with one puny human than I do around ANY of the other werewolves or the ones with guns.” He sighed dramatically. “Instincts make me crazy.”

Derek huffed and pulled the spare chair up next to Stiles’s desk. “It’s not just messing with you,” he admitted. “You’re not a threat to Scott’s territory and Cora and I kind of usurped our territory to Scott when we left, so it’s not a threat to us either, so your cub isn’t a threat. Instead, it’s something to be protected.” He looked a little ruffled and uncomfortable as he spoke. “One of the main reasons I keep volunteering to watch you with the hunters still around is because even if I’m not an alpha anymore, I _was_ for a while, and since I’m the older of me and Cora, I still have that ‘protective’ instinct. I _need_ to make sure nothing happens to your cub.”

Stiles nodded. “Scott said the same thing,” he said.

Ethan smiled almost bashfully. “Sorry about the inconvenience. But it is nice,” he said softly. “You guys all have no reason to even tolerate me and Aiden.” He looked at Derek meaningfully. “Especially you.”

Derek looked him in the eyes, conveying more conviction than Ethan could’ve expected. “I know more about manipulation than most people ever will. I would rather see you and Aiden do something good with your futures than pay for your pasts.”

Ethan blinked then bit his lip, fighting back a small sound. Stiles’s eyes widened. “Shit, Derek, now look what you did- No, no, Ethan, don’t cry-“

Ethan whimpered, blinking hard. “Damn it, that should not make me wanna cry,” he choked out, sniffling. He flopped onto his back, belly sticking up. “DAMN IT PREGNANCY!” he cried, rubbing hard at his eyes. “Guh, Derek, just go before I haul my fat ass over there and hug you.”

Derek gave him a slightly panicked look. “Wow, no, don’t- don’t do that,” he said, edging closer to Stiles.

Stiles snorted. “Yeah, cause _I_ can save you from an alpha werewolf on a cuddle mission.” Derek just glared, but shuffled his chair a little closer anyhow.

~

Ethan had stopped fearing short walks around the neighborhood late at night with Stiles after three months of the hunters being ‘around’ but not doing anything. The others knew they went on walks, but nobody worried because they ran patrols every night and kept tabs on the hunters. If they lost them or saw movement, they would warn them to either to not go out or to get back home fast. Stiles had a gun just in case, so they weren’t that worried. 

Because of their lack of fear, Ethan wasn’t even surprised when, on their walk back to the house, not even four houses down from where Aiden was watching the game with John, an SUV roared up, driving up onto the sidewalk to cut them off. Ethan and Stiles both jumped back, hands going up as three men and a woman hopped out. “Whoa, whoa, what the hell-“

“Shut up,” one of the men ordered Stiles, pointing a gun at him. 

The woman walked into the light of the streetlamp nearest them and nodded to Ethan. “One in the jacket is probably the werewolf. It’s too warm out this time of year for a jacket that big,” she said and a shorter man walked around and yanked the hood off Ethan’s head then held a gun to it.

“NO!” Stiles cried and Ethan froze solid. Stiles jumped slightly when the gun on him jerked. “No, look, don’t do this-“

“Why not?” The woman stalked closer, her eyes sparkling ominously in the dimness of the night. “He’s the one they’ve all been guarding. You must be their alpha,” she said, grinning darkly. “Cut off the head and all that.

Ethan shook his head. “No, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not their alpha-“

“Your eyes are red right now, you can’t tell me you’re not an alpha-“

Stiles cut her off. “He’s not THE alpha, lady.” He edged a little between Ethan and the woman, careful not to give her a reason to shoot. “There’s three packs here. Three very different packs. A pack with one alpha and one beta, a pack with two betas, and a pack with two alphas. Some with humans, some not. The ones you want are betas, not alphas.”

She gave him a dark look. “A dog is a dog, no matter what,” she said, raising her own gun to level on Ethan over Stiles’s shoulder. “Now move or I’ll shoot you both. I don’t hurt humans usually, but I can make an exception to bag an alpha-“

“No!” Stiles cried suddenly. “You can’t. Please, he’s- he’s pregnant!” he tried, stepping back to show Ethan’s middle. “See?! Not fat, pregnant. He’s pregnant, I know it’s weird, but magic-“

“I don’t really care if it’s a bitch, it’s still an alpha,” she said, then eyed Ethan’s middle. “Hell, saving time for the future to take out both of them-“

“My baby is human!” Ethan blurted out, his panic giving way to tears. He put his hands down, curling his arms around his middle. “It’s human. The baby is human, don’t- Innocent human baby, don’t hurt it.”

She faltered. “Human? How can it be human?”

Ethan let out a weak sob, clutching at his middle protectively. “The- the father. The father is human. The father is human and werewolves can have human babies. It’s just how the DNA works-“

“That’s right, genetics,” Stiles said quickly, spotting the silently approaching silhouette of two wolves darting from shadow to shadow towards them. “Just genetics. You know, the squares, dominant and recessive traits, all that good stuff.”

The woman’s gun dropped slightly. “Human baby and a magical pregnancy, huh?” she asked, then smirked, raising the gun again. “Nice try-“

The woman was knocked off her feet just as the gun fired by Aiden barreling into her. Stiles wasted no time elbowing the man behind Ethan in the face, shoving his gun away as he fired blindly. As howls and gunshots sounded, Stiles shoved Ethan down out of the firing line, hunching over Ethan’s curled up form to protect him. He lifted his head as he saw one of the men getting up, turning his gun on them. “NO!” he cried, bodily sprawling across Ethan’s body just as the shot went off.

Ethan and Stiles both waited for the pain, but it didn’t seem to come. There was a loud howl and one last gunshot before everything went quiet. Stiles sat up, feeling himself over, then looking Ethan over. Ethan met his eyes and shrugged, only to be wrenched from their relief by a shout. “SHERIFF!?”

Ethan and Stiles both paled dramatically and Stiles was to his feet and running before Ethan was able to even stand. “DAD!” Stiles cried, rushing over to where his father stood hunched over beside the SUV, only to let out a broken sound when John slid down the side of the SUV, landing on his knees, hand over his abdomen. “No, no no, Dad!” 

Ethan rushed over, fear rising in him like he hadn’t expected. “John?!” he cried, putting a hand on John’s other side.

John looked up, shock in his features. “Well shit,” he said, lifting his hand to show the blood.

Ethan looked at the quickly spreading patch of red on his shirt and shook his head. “No, no, you’re going to be okay,” he muttered, pushing John’s hand back to apply pressure. “Just keep pressure-“

“Dad, dad how bad is it?” Stiles asked, and John winced.

“Pretty bad,” he said, and Stiles just nodded, face going blank.

Derek stumbled to his knees beside them. “A neighbor called 9-1-1, the paramedics are coming,” he said, and Stiles nodded just stoically.

Ethan, however, grabbed John’s free hand and held it. “You’ll be fine, you will,” he said, tears spilling over. “It’s gonna be fine, right?” He looked up at Derek. “He’ll be okay, right?”

John chuckled roughly. “It’s okay, Ethan,” he said, squeezing his hand. He let out a ragged breath. “How’s the cub? You guys okay?”

Ethan nodded, letting out a whine. “Forget about me, you got _shot_!”

John shook his head. “‘slong as your cub is okay, it’s all good.” John looked past Ethan and forced a smile. “I’m okay, Derek,” he said, and Derek just swallowed hard, eyes wide. Ethan looked up to see Aiden behind Derek, watching fearfully from his spot standing amongst the dead hunters.

Ethan looked up as he heard sirens approaching, then back to John. “They’re coming, it’s gonna be okay,” he said, and John nodded weakly. “You’ll be okay, right? Right?” he asked, and John started to slump. “JOHN?!”

“Sheriff?” Derek asked, but John’s eyes started fluttering.

“No, no nononono!” Ethan shook John, who opened his eyes again. “Stay awake! Stay awake, you’ll be okay,” he pleaded. “You’ve gotta be, you’ll be fine!”

John patted his hand. “s’okay, Ethan, it’ll be okay.”

“Not if you aren’t alright it won’t!” Ethan cried, then let out a broken sob. “Nobody’s ever given me and Aiden a home before, nobody-“ he choked on a weak sound. “Nobody’s ever acted like a dad to us before,” he admitted, shaking his head. “You’ve gotta be okay.”

John smiled weakly, squeezing Ethan’s hand. “It’s okay, Ethan, it’s okay.” John turned to Stiles, who was just staring, wide-eyed, pale, and clearly in shock. “Stiles, it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere, Stiles, I’m right- right-“ His eyes began to droop and Stiles seemed to snap out of his stupor.

“Dad? Dad?!” He shook John’s shoulder. “No, Dad!” He started to rock some, shaking his head. “Dad? Daddy? Please!” His face crumpled. “DAD?!” he screamed.

Derek put a hand on his back. “He’s still breathing, just calm down, the paramedics are turning the corner.”

“Not my dad, no, not my dad,” Stiles repeated, shaking his head firmly. “No!”

Derek nodded tightly. “Just breathe, Stiles-“ Stiles let out a ragged sob then threw his arms around Derek’s neck, clinging to him so hard he nearly knocked him over. 

“Not my dad,” he sobbed, voice muffled by Derek’s shirt.

Aiden grabbed Ethan and together they ran into the woods so that nobody would see the pregnant man in the mix of it, and together they watched the ambulance pulling to a stop, clinging to each other and clinging to hope.

~

Aiden paced while Ethan curled up on the couch, staring at the half-drunk beer John had been drinking less than thirty minutes before. It was unreal to think John might die. He couldn’t really comprehend what he was feeling. He’d been afraid for Aiden before, and he had been afraid for his cub and for Danny, but never had the likelihood of death been higher than not for someone he cared about. 

He rubbed at his belly, looking down as the cub kicked. “It’s okay, you,” he whispered, biting his lip. “We’re okay.”

Aiden stopped walking and Ethan froze, only to relax when a relaxing feeling coursed through him. When the knock came, Ethan gave Aiden a look and Aiden went to the door. As soon as he opened it, Danny burst past him. “Ethan?! God, Ethan, are you okay?” He rushed over and sat beside Ethan, curling his arms around him. “You’re okay right? The baby?”

Ethan nodded, pressing his face into Danny’s neck, letting the comfort Danny brought soothe him. “Danny,” he whispered weakly, clinging to him. “Danny, John-“

“I know.” Danny kissed his forehead. “Scott texted me from the hospital. They said he’s hanging in there, though.”

Ethan let out a broken whisper. “It’s my fault. I wanted to go walking and me and Stiles went and- and we shouldn’t have been doing that, even if we’ve done it for weeks, and- and John got _shot_ cause of me-“

“Shhhhhh, don’t do that.” Danny rocked Ethan some. “It’s not your fault, Babe.” He pressed his lips to Ethan’s forehead gently. “Those hunters shot him. Not you-“

“But I was out there-“

Danny shushed him, sliding his hand from Ethan’s back to his belly. “John was protecting our baby, Ethan. Our cub. He got shot so that our cub wouldn’t be hurt.”

Ethan sniffled. “I know, but… but he’s like a father to me, Danny,” he muttered. “Our entire lives, we’ve never had a father figure. Aiden and me, we finally have a home.” He closed his eyes and whimpered. “I’ve got so used to having John around. I don’t- I don’t want me and Aiden to be alone again.”

Danny shook his head. “You guys won’t be alone, I promise.”

Ethan pulled back some and looked into Danny’s eyes. “Danny, promise me something.”

Danny nodded. “Anything, whatever it is, yes,” he whispered.

Ethan put his hand over Danny’s on his belly. “Don’t ever let our cub grow up without a parent, okay?” Danny stared, swallowing hard. “If anything happens to me, promise you’ll do anything you need to for our cub. Don’t ever let him or her end up like me and Aiden did, okay?” He blinked hard. “I’ve done so many terrible things, Danny. I’ve done so much bad in my life, and I can’t let my cub end up going down that same path. So promise me that if anything happens, you won’t let our cub end up like me after growing up alone.”

Danny let out a pained sound and dropped his forehead to Ethan’s. “Ethan, I know you’ve done bad things. I know you have done so much you won’t ever be able to make up for. But _you_ aren’t a bad person. You aren’t. If you were a bad person, you wouldn’t feel any of this regret and remorse.” He nodded. “I won’t let our cub end up in the situations that made you have to choose between bad and worse. No matter what, our cub has so many people who will love him or her. I promise,” he said, kissing Ethan sweetly.

Ethan just nodded, curling himself into Danny’s arms, laying his head on Danny’s chest to listen to his heartbeat until he could calm down.

~

At his impressive nine months pregnant, Ethan was nearly as immobile as John some days. John’s bullet wound had ended in major abdominal surgery that left him pretty grounded for weeks. Most days he and Ethan took up opposite ends of the couch with Aiden and Stiles taking turns waiting on them hand and foot. Whenever Danny came over, John almost wished it didn’t hurt so much to stand up and walk just to escape the sappiness.

Danny rubbed Ethan’s belly with an adoring smile. “Awwww, yeah, that’s daddy’s hand! You’re pushing at Daddy, yes you are!’

Stiles and Aiden, on the other couch, shared grossed out looks. “You two are disgusting,” Aiden said, kicking at Stiles’s ankle. “Stiles, make them stop.”

Stiles just smirked. “So, baby names?” he asked and Aiden shot him a horrified glance.

Danny froze and Ethan grumbled, eyes growing stormy. “Fucking Tutu-“

“Hey, just because she’s a little insistent doesn’t mean you can say bad things about my grandmother!” Danny chastised.

John raised an eyebrow. “I’ve missed this particular drama. What did Danny’s grandmother do?”

Ethan growled slightly. “She’s pushing for my cub to have a ‘traditional’ Hawaiian name.” He rolled his eyes. “My cub is already going to have a hell of a hyphenated name, does it need THAT on top of it?!”

John raised an eyebrow. “Why? ‘Danny’ isn’t exactly that traditional.”

Stiles snickered. “Dude his middle name is Keanu. Totally traditional,” he said and Danny glowered at him. 

“If you call me Keanu Reeves again I will _end you_ ,” he threatened. He gave Ethan a softer look. “Babe, you don’t have to name the cub anything you don’t want-“

“Good!”

“But!” he urged. “Just consider it maybe. Just a middle name maybe?” he asked, all but batting his eyelashes. “I’m not that into my ethnic culture, but I am the first person in my family born outside of Hawaii, so to Tutu and sort of to my parents, it’s a thing. And it’s our cub, but it’s their grandchild and great-grandchild.”

Ethan groaned. “But they’re all so _weird_!” Danny shot him a look. “What?! Danny, come on, every name she has suggested is weird sounding-“

“Then try the internet. Come on, Ethan, just allow for the possibility?” he asked, rubbing at his tummy when the cub moved. Danny met his eyes and Ethan melted a little. “It would mean a lot for my parents.” He leaned in, bumping their foreheads together sweetly. “I just care that our baby is happy and healthy. You could name him ‘Bob’ for all I care.”

Ethan made a face. “Ew, no, why? That isn’t even funny.” He sighed. “Well, I’m still deciding on the order of the names.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you’re hyphenating the last name?”

Ethan nodded, grinning. “It’s important to me that my cub has a claim on Danny as his or her dad. Our baby will be something something Mahealani-Ames or something something Ames-Mahealani.”

Stiles froze. “Wow, I just realized I absolutely did not know your last name,” he said and both Ethan and Aiden gave him disbelieving looks.

Ethan bit his lip, glancing at John uneasily. “Actually… I was kind of thinking for a middle name Alexander or Alexandra,” he said softly and John looked up quickly, surprise in his eyes.

Stiles gasped and Danny and Aiden looked between the three of them in surprise. John smiled brightly, his eyes shining some. “That- that would be… amazing,” he said and Ethan beamed at the praise.

Danny smiled. “Wait, Sheriff, is that your name?”

Stiles nodded. “His middle name is Alexander,” he said, then grinned at Ethan. “You wanna name your baby after Dad?”

Ethan shrugged, shrinking into Danny some. “Who knows where we would be right now if John hadn’t saw two broken kids who needed help instead of just two murderers who needed punishment. Nobody’s ever helped us and my cubs very life might be all thanks to you, John,” he said softly, eyes soft. “So thank you.”

John just nodded, clearing his throat. “I’m more than okay with you naming your kid after me.”

Stiles smiled brightly. “Better choice than my parents!” he said to Ethan. “I was named after my mom’s dad. Oh God, do I ever resent them for that,” he said, shaking his head.

Danny frowned. “What _is_ your real name?”

Aiden and Ethan both turned to him. “I don’t think either of us have heard it either,” Aiden said and Stiles just scoffed.

“Yeah right! The only person alive that knows my full name is my dad. I don’t even have it on the records at school. _Scott_ doesn’t know! Nobody will ever know,” Stiles said. “I’m like the Doctor, nobody will ever learn my true name.”

“Except River Song.” They all turned to see Derek walking in. He offered a smirk at Aiden’s surprised face. “What? I’ve been hanging out here when you’re gone to work to be back up. I’ve picked up the TV show storyline.”

Stiles sighed dramatically. “Finally, someone who understand me,” he said, then flopped across the couch. “Oooh River Ames-Mahealani-“

“ _No_!” Both Ethan and Danny dissented in unison.

~

The baby came at night. Nobody was _really_ prepared, but Deaton had told them that his contacts informed him that a werewolf giving birth did not, under any circumstances, need to be surrounded by tons of people. Also, the only people who should be in the room at all were pack mates. Nobody from outside the pack. For Ethan, that meant that no matter how much he viewed the others are non-threats, the only people in the room while the baby was born were Aiden and Danny. Danny had barely made it to the house in time. He had arrived and within an hour of his arrival, they had another arrival.

Their cub was a beautiful baby boy. 

It wasn’t until the following day, around noon, that Ethan and Danny came downstairs to finally show their waiting friends and family their cub. “Oh my God, looook!” Stiles squeaked and Aiden winced, covering his ears from his side.

“Ow,” he said, then made grabby hands. “Gimme my nephew!”

Ethan smiled and handed the baby over to Aiden carefully, making sure Aiden handled him gently. Aiden cuddled the tiny baby close to his chest and gasped. “He’s awesome, right?” Ethan asked and Aiden looked up at his brother with a blinding smile.

“Dude… I can feel him. It’s so cool!” he looked back at his nephew, who was looking up at him now, fussing slightly. “Oh my God, Ethan, he’s the coolest thing ever!” He laughed and stroked the baby’s head gently. “What’s his name?”

Ethan leaned his head against Aiden’s, shoulder, looking down at his baby. “Well, about that.” He looked up at Danny and Danny shared a loving smile with him.

“So Tutu,” Danny said, turning to his grandmother, who was sitting with his parents on the couch opposite the others. “We compromised on a Hawaiian name that doesn’t sound too rare that people can’t say his name,” he said and she looked pleased. “And Ethan wanted to name him after Sheriff Stilinski, so…” He looked at Ethan, and Ethan beamed.

“Aiden, meet Noa Alexander Mahealani-Ames.” He bit his lip and smiled down at his baby. “Noa, this is your Uncle Aiden.” He touched the baby’s cheek. “I know, he smells like Dad, huh? You’ll figure it out,” he whispered, kissing the baby’s chubby little cheek.

“Ah crap, now I’ll have to learn to tell them apart again,” John muttered to Stiles, who just snorted, slapping a hand over his mouth.

Ethan looked up and rolled his eyes when John winked at him. “C’mon, Papa John can’t get up to come see you,” he said, taking Noa back from Aiden. “Papa’s still got some healing to do,” he confided, walking over to sit between John and Stiles, holding Noa in his arms so they could see. 

John gave him a somewhat nervous smile. “Papa, huh?”

Ethan nodded, giving John a knowing look. “You’ve been more than just a guy letting us stay here. You’ve been like the father Aiden and I never got to have and Stiles is more like a brother than we ever deserved from him. You guys are just as much Noa’s family as anybody.” Stiles bit his lip and Ethan rolled his eyes. “Don’t cry-“

“I’m not gonna cry, damn it!” Stiles gritted out, blinking hard.

Ethan just rolled his eyes, bumping their shoulders. “C’mon, cry later, look at the baby now so we can show him to his grandparents.”

~

Ethan beamed when he came back with a bottle only to find Danny sitting on the couch and smiling down at Noa like he was the most perfect thing ever. Ethan knew that was how Danny felt because it was how he felt as well. Noa was absolutely perfect. He walked over and sat beside Danny, sliding his arm behind Danny’s shoulders so he could lean over Noa some. “We did good, huh?” he asked and Danny looked up to meet his eyes, a smile so gentle and eyes so loving that it _hurt_.

“I love you so much,” Danny said, leaning his head back against Ethan’s arm some. “Ethan, we have a son,” he whispered, a grin on his lips.

Ethan leaned in and kissed Danny slowly before reluctantly pulling away to offer the bottle to Danny so he could feed Noa. “Love you, too,” he said, kissing Danny’s cheek when he turned all his attention on feeding Noa. He looked down and sighed as he watched Noa drinking his bottle. “Look,” he said, reaching out to touch Noa’s little cheek. “He’s got dimples like you,” he said and Danny beamed. “Man, I bet when he starts smiling he’s gonna steal hearts just like his daddy,” he teased and Danny rolled his eyes.

“Please, you are never more beautiful than when you smile real big,” he said to Ethan, who just chuckled. Danny smirked. “Besides, chubby baby cheeks aside, you can already tell he’s gonna have a killer jaw just like you.”

Ethan nodded. “Yep! Our kid is gorgeous. We did great!” He stroked at the fine black hair on Noa’s head. “Your black hair and dimples, my jawline, and he already has long little arms and legs so he might be tall like you too. Plus with us as his parents, he has no choice but gorgeous brown eyes and a warm complexion. He’s _beautiful_ ,” he said, then laughed softly. “Danny we have a son and he’s beautiful.”

Danny giggled softly, nodding. “I know right?! Nothing could be better than this, huh?” He looked up and met Ethan’s eyes. “Like, I know things won’t be easy. I know things are going to be so hard and we’re going to face so much crap from our families and each other and other people and probably other werewolves but… it doesn’t matter to me right now,” he said, looking down at Noa. “Because our son is perfect and I love him more than I knew I ever could.”

Ethan nodded, resting his chin on Danny’s shoulder to look down at their son. “I know exactly what you mean.”

~

July was amazing for Ethan and Danny. They both had all the time in the world to spend time together with Noa. Ethan kept him most nights after spending the day with Danny, but some nights Danny would bring him home to spend time with his family. The first few times Danny took Noa home with him, Ethan ended up crawling through the window and climbing into bed with Danny so that he wouldn’t be away from his baby, but he eventually made it to the point he wouldn’t freak out if he didn’t wake up to Noa needing to be fed or changed. From Noa’s birth in mid-June, the whole summer was just amazing for them. The excitement of being new parents and having no responsibilities outside that made everything so good between Danny and Ethan. They were happy, crazy in love with each other, and ecstatic about their cub. 

Ethan knew it would get hard when Danny started school in mid-August and Ethan got a job now that he wasn’t visibly pregnant anymore and now that Noa was able to go without one of his parents around as often. Ethan managed to get a job working a dinner shift at a restaurant as a waiter. That way he didn’t have to be in until four-thirty every day, meaning Danny would have time to get out of school and get home in time for Ethan to drop Noa off. It worked for the first few weeks of school.

It also became apparent in those first few weeks that the rumor mill in Beacon Hills had picked up on Danny Mahealani being seen with a baby and speculation was abound. The most common explanation was that Danny’s parents adopted a baby. There were a few ‘Danny must have an older sister nobody talks about and it’s her kid’, and ‘taking care of a cousin’s. There were absolutely no guesses at the truth. Everybody at school knew Danny as the ‘gay Hawaiian kid’ since the number of gay guys who were out was extremely low and he was the only Hawaiian kid at the school, so there was no reason for anybody to suspect Danny had a son. 

Until Jackson Whitmore made a shocking return to Beacon Hills.

~

Danny was at his locker, about to close the door, when something slammed into the lockers beside his and a flailing limb pushed it shut for him. He looked at Stiles and started to make a smart remark, only to stop when he saw how pale Stiles was. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

“Oh yeah! Everything’s great, totally fine!” Stiles said quickly, then his eyes widened in panic as he looked past Danny. “Okay I came here to give you a heads up but I’m too late, so just- just don’t panic! But you should know Ja-“

“Why would Danny need you to _warn him_ I was back?” said a voice that Danny hadn’t expected to hear again in Beacon Hills, if ever. 

Danny whipped around, eyes wide. “Jackson?!” he asked, taking in the sight of his former best friend casually leaning against the lockers. “I- what- why are you here?!”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Wow, you sure missed me. Some friend you are-“

“NO, I didn’t mean that, just-“ Danny cringed, hesitating. “Why did you come back?”

“My dad’s old firm wanted him back, I figured things had to have died down, and I’m in control,” he said, shrugging. “Stilinski,” he said, looking at Stiles. “I need to check in with someone ‘in charge’ around here so I’m not seen as a threat. You know where Derek is staying now?” he asked in what was clearly an attempt to be cryptic.

Danny frowned. “Derek’s not an alpha- oh!” He turned to Stiles. “That’s right, he was the alpha, wasn’t he? I forget that,” he said, and Jackson looked at him in surprise.

“So you finally got clued in, huh?” he asked. “Wait, you’re not-“ His eyes widened and he leaned in, nostrils flaring. He jerked back slightly, staring at Danny in shock. “You- you smell like alpha. You’re not- you aren’t one of us,” he said, sniffing at him again. He narrowed his eyes. “Ew, Hale?!”

Derek made a face. “Ew, no!”

“Besides,” Stiles interrupted. “Derek isn’t an alpha anymore.”

Jackson frowned. “He dead?”

Stiles shook his head. “Gave up his powers to save his sister.”

“The dead one?”

Stiles stared at him flatly for a moment. “Yes, Jackson, the dead one- No you dumbass! He found another one alive!” He rolled his eyes. “A lot has gone down but if you must know who to check in with, Scott’s the alpha you’ll be around the most.”

Jackson narrowed his eyes. “McCall is an alpha? Goddamn it,” he muttered, then stopped. “Wait, you make it sound like there’s more than one-“ He stopped and looked at Danny speculatively. “There is another alpha and that’s who you smell like,” he realized.

Danny nodded. “Long story,” he said and Stiles waved a hand.

“No time,” he said, then tapped Jackson’s shoulder. “Check in with Scott if you need to. As for the alphas, the basic rundown: Scott’s pack includes Isaac Lahey as a beta and then like… I guess just Allison and maybe but maybe not me as humans and Lydia as a banshee-“

“Lydia is a _what_?!” Jackson asked, but Stiles kept going.

“Then Derek and his sister Cora are both betas, but they’re a pack. And Peter’s still around so technically he’s pack with them but he’s more like just a random guy you know that you see in town sometimes. He stays out of our way.” He nodded at Danny. “And Ethan and Aiden are a set of alpha twins – long story, no time – and their pack includes them and then my dad and maybe but maybe not me and Danny as humans then-“ He stopped and looked at Danny, who just shrugged.

“May as well,” he said, then looked at Jackson, needing to see his reaction. “And my son is the only beta.”

Jackson stared, then laughed. “Ha! Sounded like you said your son-“

“I did, Jackson,” Danny said, steeling himself. “I have a son. His name is Noa. He’s two and a half months old.” He looked at his phone. “And I have to go to band right now because if I’m late he’ll keep me after school and I can’t do that. We can talk later,” he said, turning over the reins to Stiles, who grabbed Jackson by the backpack and steered him down the hall.

Danny typed a quick message, knowing Ethan would need to know not only that another werewolf was in town, but that Danny was going to come for Noa smelling like some strange beta he didn’t know.

 _You’ll never guess who is back in town_.

~

Jackson sat silently, taking in everything that had been tossed at him since he’d been ushered into McCall’s house by Stiles and Scott, along with Isaac, Allison, Lydia, and Danny. A guy and girl Jackson didn’t know arrived soon after with Derek and they stood around in the doorway, clearly distrusting. Jackson glanced at him, then turned back.

“So, you’re telling me… things got worse after I left?! Worse than all we went through?” he asked, and Stiles nodded.

“Way worse. Peter killed people who helped with the murder of the Hale pack,” he said. “You killed murderers, well mostly, in the control of psychos. Between Ms. Blake and the Alphas, like fifteen people were killed, most of them innocent. Shit got really bad,” he said with finality.

Jackson just hummed. “Well that sucks,” he said, then looked at the two strangers. “Are they the Murder Twins you let stay?” he asked, looking at the guy and girl trying to see any resemblance. 

“Don’t call them that,” Danny said sternly, glaring. 

“No,” Derek actually answered. “Well, yes and no.”

The girl stepped over to Derek, gesturing. “We’re one pack.” She pointed at the other one. “He’s one half of the alpha twins.”

He growled at Jackson slightly, flashing his eyes until Jackson had to look down. “I don’t like him here. Not when things are good. He throws things off.” He tilted his head. “Ethan’s here, I’ve gotta leave for work,” he said to the room at general before glaring at Jackson. “Don’t move a fucking muscle until we’re gone fully,” he warned, then walked out of the house.

Jackson raised an eyebrow at Allison. “You’re fucking kidding me with that guy, right-“ He stopped when the sound of crying and the door opening caught his attention.

“Awww I know, I know honey.” The guy came back in with a baby in his arms and a diaper bag on his shoulder. 

Jackson frowned. “Didn’t you just leave? Where’d you get a baby?”

Danny rolled his eyes, smiling. “He’s the other one, stupid.” He stood up and walked to meet the alpha.

Jackson whistled. “Damn, that is a new level of identical- wait, what?” He changed tracks when Danny took the baby and the alpha put the diaper bag down before standing up and continuing to his tiptoes to kiss Danny. 

The alpha turned to Jackson, raising an eyebrow. “So you’re Jackson, huh?” he asked, hand still tangled with Danny’s. “I’m Ethan,” he said, stepping somewhat in front of Danny and the baby when Jackson’s eyes stayed on them, eyes turning blue. Ethan growled slightly, eyes flashing red at Jackson, who recoiled slightly. “Don’t test me,” he threatened.

“Jackson, stop, whatever it is, just stop,” Danny said, putting his hand on Ethan’s back. “He won’t hurt us-“

“I don’t care what you think, I don’t want you turning that kinda face on my cub,” Ethan said to Jackson.

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “So wait… your cub is… Danny’s son?” he asked, tilting his head. “Oh my God, Danny did you _marry an alpha_?!” he asked incredulously.

Danny rolled his eyes. “I’m not eighteen yet, I can’t get married,” he pointed out. “And no, Noa is _our_ son.”

Ethan narrowed his eyes. “I don’t have time for the story, I’ve got to go to work like right now, but you listen and you believe it because if you so much as look at my cub or my mate funny, I’ll fix the omega problem _fast_.” He went from dangerous to bright and happy as he turned back and kissed the baby. “Dad has to go to work, Noa, but you have fun with Daddy,” he cooed, kissing the baby once more before turning to peck Danny’s lips. “I’ll be at your place around eleven.”

Danny smiled. “Alright, bye, Babe.” 

“Love you,” Ethan said, waving from the hall before he walked out of the house.

Jackson turned his eyes to Danny, then he honed in on the baby. “Whoa, it’s a beta but it smells like you-“

“He isn’t an ‘it’, and I know,” Danny said, shuffling his squirmy baby until he could sit down and hold him properly. “Jackson, this is my son, Noa Mahealani-Ames. This is a long story, so listen okay?” he started, and everybody settled in to offer details as they were needed.

~

After most everybody else had left, Derek and Cora waiting until Jackson and Danny left since nobody wanted to leave Danny and the baby alone with another werewolf, Jackson sat beside Danny, staring down at Noa for a while before finally looking up. “He looks like Derek,” he decided and Danny glared. “What?! Black hair, slight dimples, strong brow, hints of cheekbones beneath all the baby fat. Just saying, you sure-“

“Yes he’s sure, shut up, Jackson,” Derek said, glaring at him from across the room.

Danny snorted. “Don’t worry, I have no doubt Noa’s my son,” he said, smiling down at the baby in his lap. “I have black hair, I have dimples, Ethan has the brow and cheekbones, and Ethan has the cute little upturned nose,” he said, poking the baby’s nose playfully. “You look like a mix of your dad and daddy don’t you, Noa?” he asked, making a face at Noa just to see him smile. He smiled lovingly down at his son. “You’re gonna be even more beautiful than your dad, just wait, Noa.”

“Eh, the creepy twins look like they’d be more attractive with bags over their heads. Nice biceps, weird, squished faces-“

Danny glowered fiercely. “Keep talking shit about the _father of my child_ , I dare you,” he threatened authoritatively. “Say a damn thing about Ethan’s face – especially since it’s a lie and he’s gorgeous – and I will kick your furry little werewolf ass, Jackson. I don’t give two shits how strong you might be.”

Jackson snorted. “Oh come on, you used to date hot guys-“

“And now I’m dating one that’s beautiful and not just sexy,” Danny argued. “Look, seriously Jackson, shut up.”

“Wow, he is an asshole.” Cora said to Derek. “Why did you bite that loser?”

Jackson shot her a look. “Who asked you?” he countered.

Cora shot him a look. “Don’t make me eat you.”

Noa started crying and Danny glared at them both as he shifted Noa, shushing him as he held him against his chest. “How about both of you lay off. Your tones are making him scared. Stop being aggressive around a cub, you assholes.” He shushed Noa, standing up. “It’s okay, Daddy’s got you, they’re not mad at you,” he comforted, kissing his head. He raised his head and looked up at Danny and Danny beamed. “Look at you! You’re getting good at raising your head, huh?” he asked, curling his hand around the back of his head so it wouldn’t fall back when he got tired. “Daddy’s big man.”

Jackson watched him and shook his head. “What are you even doing, Danny? It’s a Friday night. You’re at Scott McCall’s house with werewolves and when you leave here, you’re going home to _babysit_! You used to be one of the most popular guys at school and you’re spending a Friday night in September home.” He gave him a serious look. “What the hell happened to you?”

Danny glared at him over Noa’s head. “I have a son, that’s what happened,” he said firmly. He rolled his eyes. “Besides, what do you even care, Jackson?” he asked. “You _left_ without so much as a goodbye,” he accused. He stared him down. “You emailed and skyped a few times, then that was it. Done. Never heard from you again.” He shrugged. “And besides, a lot changed since you were here last. Things aren’t the same at school. Yeah, I’m probably the most popular guy in our grade, but it’s not like it used to be. Scott’s the captain of the Lacrosse team so he’s pretty popular, Stiles and Isaac are both sort of popular, Lydia _isn’t_ that popular anymore really, Allison isn’t either, but we still all hang out together.” He rolled his eyes. “Also, what the hell would I do on a Friday night when Lacrosse isn’t in season, my friends take turns patrolling the town for supernatural threats, and I don’t even have a fake ID anymore I haven’t been to Jungle in so long?”

Jackson just stared. “Wow, what the hell has happened to all of you?”

“Our lives got better, honestly,” Danny said with a shrug. “Look, not everybody wants to prove they’re the shit like you always have,” he pointed out. “Lydia tossed the need to be popular and she’s free to stop hiding her intelligence and spends her weekends screwing _really_ hot guys, and I’ve got a _son_ ,” he stressed. “Trust me, we’re both doing way better outside of being popular.”

Jackson looked at Noa and rolled his eyes. “You’re telling me feeding a screaming baby at two in the morning is more of your idea of a good time than parties where every guy with the slightest deviation from straight wants to screw you?”

Danny sighed and rolled his eyes. “ _Yes_! Because the screaming baby is _my son_ and his Dad matters more to me than any other guy out there. That’s my point, Jackson, my idea of important is my family before everything else.”

Jackson stared at him then sighed. “Okay, even if I buy that, what about other stuff? School? Sports? What exactly does a crying baby at two in the morning do for your grades? What about morning practice?” he asked.

Danny hesitated, looking down at Noa. He sat down again and sighed. “My grades are fine, there’s no worry about that, I’m probably second smartest after Lydia, unless Stiles has edged past me, but I’ll be honest.” He made a face. “Sports have me worried. Ethan works nights and a lot of the rest of the pack either works or plays sports too. I don’t know what we’ll do,” he admitted.

Jackson narrowed his eyes. “What about college?”

Danny cringed. “I kind of… sort of might have already got a scholarship offer,” he said and Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I haven’t talked to anybody about it, but last Lacrosse season, a scout talked to me and I’ve kept in contact. They said that as long as I have high grades and do as good this year as I did last year then I’m guaranteed a full ride.”

Jackson stared. “Whoa, to where?”

“Notre Dame,” Danny said, looking down at Noa. “But, I’m pretty sure that’s not happening now,” he muttered. He glanced at Jackson’s pointed look then shook his head. “ _No_ -“

“So you’re throwing away a _full ride_ to Notre Dame?” Jackson asked and Danny shook his head.

“Don’t do that,” he argued. “I’m not throwing away shit by choosing my son over college Lacrosse. It sucks, but it’s just life,” he said simply. He smiled down at Noa. “Am I disappointed I’ll have to give up that scholarship? Yeah, I am. But if the choice is a full ride to Notre Dame that means having to leave Ethan and Noa or finding something else and staying with them? The choice is so simple. It’s always going to be Ethan and Noa.”

~

The next pack meeting was at the Stilinski pack, and this time Jackson was invited to join them. Ethan and Danny were on the floor with Noa on the floor between them, playing with a stuffed wolf Stiles had bought him. Derek and Cora were already there, as were Allison and Lydia. Scott and Isaac were coming but running late. Melissa had work and John was out back grilling with Derek and Peter, who nobody trusted but was still invited mostly to make sure they could keep an eye on him and know exactly how much he knew just in case he was planning something. When the doorbell announced someone’s arrival, Stiles jumped up to go answer the door. Ethan tensed slightly and Danny looked up to see Stiles leading Jackson in. 

“Hey Stilinski,” Jackson said, smirking from his spot following Stiles into the room. “When the hell did you grow into your limbs?” he asked, eyes trailing down Stiles from behind. “Did you always look this good from behind?”

Stiles frowned, turning around to eye Jackson as he walked backwards to the couch. “Uh, since when is that something you’d notice?” he asked pointedly. 

Jackson shrugged. “In a shirt that cuts in at the waist, you can see how nice your shoulders look. Also, you’ve got a great ass,” he said, winking at him almost lecherously as he took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. 

“Wow, since when is guys with great butts your thing?” Allison asked in surprise, glancing at Lydia, who just rolled her eyes.

Jackson just shrugged, smirking as he crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back. “Funny thing about England, really. Sexuality isn’t even a big deal really, you can totally just screw whoever and it’s all pretty much nothing.”

Lydia snorted. “Don’t tell me nobody called that one,” she said, looking around. “He was always way too concerned with being attractive to gay guys, just like Stiles was in tenth grade,” she said and Stiles spluttered.

“What?! I was not-“

Danny smirked. “You asked me if I thought you were attractive like three times and then you were totally going to take me up on that offer to have sex with you last fall if I hadn’t been joking.”

“Well yeah, I was worried I was going to end up a virgin sacrifice, I’d have had sex with _Isaac_ if he had offered and that’s just not at all a thing I want to ever do,” he stressed. 

Jackson gave him a pointed smirk. “So Stilinski, you busy after this or…?” He wiggled his eyebrows as Stiles turned bright red and stammered.

Ethan giggled. “Better watch out, if Derek hears you talking like that, he might eat you,” he sing-songed, sharing an amused grin with Aiden across the room as Stiles started stuttering out denials.

“Why would Derek eat someone?” Derek asked, coming into the room wiping his hands on a towel. “Foods nearly done, by the way,” he said, tossing the towel over his shoulder as he leaned against the door casing, eyeing Jackson. “Let me guess, I’d be eating you? Why?” he asked.

Jackson raised an eyebrow at Stiles, who was bright red and looked like he wanted to go invisible. “Whoa, really? Didn’t know you had it in you, Stiles,” he said, slapping him on the thigh. He left his hand there and turned to wink at Derek. “Don’t blame you, I had never noticed until I followed him in here how nice his ass is. Probably worth the way he never shuts up, huh?”

“I AM NOT SLEEPING WITH ANYBODY!” Stiles finally shouted, shoving Jackson’s hand off his leg. “And oh my God, can we stop talking about my ass?!” he demanded, so red he was splotchy and almost purple in places. “It’s great you suddenly think I’m hot, I’m very flattered, but really, you’re creepier than ever before, Jackson.”

Jackson chuckled. “C’mon, with an a-“ Stiles glared and Jackson held up his hand. “With a ‘figure’ like yours, you’re getting some somewhere, it’s totally cool if it’s Hale, I can see the appeal.”

Derek rolled his eyes, though his ears were red. “Jackson, leave him alone.”

“What? It’s just true. If I was into the ‘dark and broody’ type, I’d totally go for somebody with a body like yours,” Jackson said with a teasing grin. “I just like ‘em thin and on the twink side like Stiles. You know what I mean-“

“Okay, seriously, stop,” Derek said firmly. “You’re making Stiles uncomfortable and it’s not funny,” he commanded.

Jackson held his hands up in submission. “Alright, alright, I’ll back off your boy, it’s cool-“

“Oh for the love of God, shut up, Jackson,” Stiles snapped, jumping up and storming out of the room, headed for the stairs. 

Derek glared at Jackson. “Leave him alone. I’m serious,” he all but growled before turning to go after Stiles.

Ethan sighed. “No, Derek, let me go after him, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have joked,” he said, standing up. He glared at Jackson and kicked him when he passed. “It was one little joke, you didn’t have to keep on about it, asshole,” he growled softly, jogging up the stairs after Stiles and Derek. 

When he got to Stiles’s room, he stopped in the doorway. Stiles was sitting on his bed facing away from the door. Derek was sitting beside him. He saw Derek tense at his arrival, but Stiles didn’t notice and Derek didn’t tell him that Ethan was at the door. “He’s just still such an asshole. Now instead of picking on me he’s hitting on me! And oh my God the way he was just talking about me like I’m a piece of freaking cake or something!” Stiles groused.

Derek just mumbled softly. “Want me to make him leave? I may not be his alpha but I can kick him out.”

Stiles sighed heavily, putting his head in his hands. “It’s not worth the trouble. It’s giving him the attention he wants. I shouldn’t have stormed out but just- it was so embarrassing!”

Derek hesitated. “So what was that about… me and you. I mean, what gave him that idea even?”

Stiles groaned dramatically. “Ethan. He knows you and me are just friends, nothing more, but he’s had this running thing ever since you climbed in my window that day.”

“Why?” Derek asked, looking at Stiles curiously. “What made him… think that?”

Ethan saw his opening and walked in, smirking. “Cause you climbed in his window the same way I always used to climb in Danny’s,” he said and Stiles looked back at him in surprise. “Don’t worry about Jackson,” he said, then smiled sadly. “And I’m sorry I made that joke for him to take off with it. I’m a jerk, sorry.”

Stiles smiled and shook his head. “Nah, without Jackson it would’ve been just another joke,” he said, standing. “Safe to go back you think?”

Ethan nodded. “Oh yeah, I threatened him. He’ll leave you alone,” he said stepping aside so that Stiles could pass him. When Derek went to follow, Ethan put his arm out across, blocking the doorway. Derek shot him a look and Ethan looked up into his eyes with a knowing smile. “The funny thing about me climbing in Danny’s window is that it wasn’t always just sneaking around to have sex,” he said and Derek eyed him guardedly. “I still sneak in his window now sometimes, even though I have permission to be there. Just like you still sneak in Stiles’s window.”

Derek tensed. “Whatever you’re implying-“

“I sneak in so that I don’t have to deal with other people first,” Ethan said gently. “I sneak in so I don’t have to talk to anybody, I don’t have to play nice with his family, I can just be with him. Not even a ‘they’ll know what we’re doing’ thing. More often than not, when I sneak into his room, it’s not for sex, it’s because I want to talk to him or just sit and do my own thing while he does his homework and be around him.” He gave Derek a knowing look. “You’re not the only one with a novel laying on the bookcase for when you just want to be there,” he said and Derek’s eyes flickered left towards the chair he usually sat in when Stiles was doing other things while Derek sat around. “I sneak in his room because sometimes I just want to be close enough to listen to his heartbeat and be surrounded by things that smell like him.”

Derek met Ethan’s eyes briefly before glancing down. “What are you trying to say, Ethan?”

Ethan shrugged. “Nothing really.” He gave Derek a meaningful look when he caught his eyes. “He’ll be eighteen in a few months.”

Derek sighed, his mask slipping. “And I’ll be twenty-four, Ethan. Six years-“

“Is only three years more than what’s between me and my underage boyfriend,” Ethan interrupted. “Six years isn’t shit as soon as he’s eighteen. I know I’m not one to be giving advice seeing as Danny was still sixteen when I got pregnant with Noa, but the point stands that in a few months it won’t matter that you’re six years older. You could be six _teen_ years older than him and it wouldn’t change anything.”

Derek shook his head. “He’ll be eighteen. He deserves more than what I can give him. Ever. I’ll never be what he deserves-“

“And you think he cares?!” Ethan argued. “You may climb in the window, but he’s the one who leaves it unlocked,” he pointed out. He sighed and looked into Derek’s eyes. “He’s old enough to decide what he wants, and you shouldn’t hide what you feel because he deserves it. Nobody will ever respect Stiles the way you do, Derek. He deserves that.” He looked at Derek closely. “You respect him, so you should respect that he leaves that window open for you because he chooses you. His decisions are his to make. Don’t deny what you want just because you’re trying to make his decisions for him,” he said before lowering his arm to let Derek past.

~

Danny was leaving class when Coach Finstock called his name. “Danny!” He stopped and turned back. Coach gestured for him to come back into the room. “I noticed you weren’t at cross country practice yesterday,” he said, leaning against his desk. He shook his head. “What happened? You seem fine today.”

Danny cringed. “Crap, was first practice yesterday?” he asked.

Coach tipped his head back. “Actually, it was the third. I let you get away with the first two since you had tests in three classes last week and you’re the best and most versatile player on the team,” he said and Danny paled. “Danny, what’s going on? Your grades are fine, so it’s not class stress. You hang out with McCall and Stilinski so you have to hear them talking about cross country after school.”

Danny bit his lip. “What days are practice? I’ve been doing homework during lunch so I guess they talk about it when I’m not there. I hadn’t even noticed cross country had started yet.”

Coach eyed him curiously, but nodded. “Alright, well you’re one of my best players and cross country is more to keep you in shape, so I can cut you some slack for that. You’ve got scholarships to think about after all,” he allowed. “Twice a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Four until six both days.”

Danny nodded, thinking about who he could get to watch Noa. “Okay, I can work something out,” he said, pulling out his phone as soon as he was out of the room. He pulled up a text to send out to everybody.

_Who is free for Noa duty Tues/Thurs after school until about 6:30?_

~

Ethan sighed, rubbing at his forehead. “Danny, John has to work most Tuesday and Thursday nights. I work nights, Aiden works nights. Stiles has practice with you. Your parents work. I don’t know anybody else,” he said, balancing the phone against his shoulder and ear while he rocked Noa, trying to quiet his crying. 

“Ethan, if I can’t do cross country, I can’t play lacrosse. It’s only an hour or so that I can’t keep him. Someone has to have a spare hour!” he said. “Ethan, I can’t not play lacrosse.”

Ethan groaned. “I know, Danny. You’ve got to think about college. It’s just that I already work so little each week I only really have this job because they need the extra person for the dinner rush. Nobody else would hire someone who can’t be in until four-thirty in the afternoon at the earliest.”

Danny hesitated and sighed. “What about Tutu?” he asked. “I know you’re worried about leaving him with a human, but she is retired, she lives with us so it isn’t a new place for him to get used to, and even if he’s a cub, she’s been around more babies than any of the rest of us so what she knows about parenting can make up for what she doesn’t know about werewolf cubs.”

Ethan looked down at Noa and sighed. “I guess it can’t hurt. And it’s only for a few hours a week. If she’s able and willing, we can see if she’ll watch him until you get home. I can keep taking him to your house like usual at least this way.”

Danny sighed. “That sounds good. Big relief.”

Ethan hummed. “Look, I know things are hard right now, but Aiden’s looking at a job at a coffee shop in town. He can work early morning until afternoon so he can take Noa when I go to work. I know when lacrosse starts you won’t have the time.”

“I hate when you say it like that, Ethan,” Danny stressed. “I hate hearing ‘you won’t have the time for your son’ when I’ll just be busy.”

Ethan snorted. “Then what the hell do you want me to say? What about ‘I’m too busy to watch Noa’ isn’t ‘I don’t have time for my son’, Danny? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing! You’re a high school senior with scholarships to worry about, you don’t have time to be there every night to watch Noa.”

“Yeah but you say it like I’m picking lacrosse over my son!” Danny argued. 

“Then only one saying that is you!” Ethan argued, wincing when Noa let out a wail. “Oh crap. No, Noa, I’m sorry,” he cooed, shifting Noa. “I’m so sorry. I’m not mad at you. It’s okay, Monkey,” he comforted. “Look, Danny, I’ve got to go-“

“No, I get it, I’m sorry,” Danny said and Ethan closed his eyes, leaning his lips against Noa’s head. “Look just… we can talk later, alright?”

Ethan chuckled. “Yeah, we can. Love you, okay?”

“I love you too, Babe,” Danny said before hanging up.

~

The finish line of their 5k practice run was coming out of the woods into the parking lot. The last thing Danny expected to see when he and Stiles sprinted out, grinning as they raced towards Coach to see who would come in fourth, since obviously Scott, Isaac, and Jackson were the first three, was his grandmother sitting at one of the tables out front talking to Coach Finstock with Noa sitting in his carrier at her feet. He faltered and Stiles burst past him across the ‘finish line’, only to turn back, frowning.

“Danny? Why’d you slow down-“

“Tutu?” Danny panted as he jogged over to her. “What are you doing here?” he asked, tugging off his hoodie and wiping off his face. 

“Ah, Danny, great!” She stood up. “I forgot that I have plans tonight. I’m running late so I figured I’d just meet you here to save the time you would need to get home.” She gestured to Stiles, who had come up and knelt down to talk to Noa. “You, come get the baby’s bag from my car,” she said and Stiles followed her.

Danny ignored Coach’s searching glance and knelt down, unbuckling Noa. “Hey Noa!” he cooed, picking him up. “You hate that seat, don’t you?” he asked, smiling when Noa laughed and smiled as soon as Danny picked him up. “Yeah, don’t worry, the drive home is short,” he promised.

“Hey Danny, whose kid is that?” one of his teammates asked as he jogged up and grabbed a water bottle from the bucket near Coach’s feet.

Danny hesitated and cleared his throat. “He’s mine,” he said loudly and, sure enough, he could hear conversations drop and a felt eyes on his back.

Coach eyed him. “Yours? As in-“

“My son, yeah,” Danny said, smiling when Noa squealed and slapped at his shoulder.

Greenberg frowned. “Wait, how do _you_ have a baby? You’re gay, teen pregnancy shouldn’t be an issue for you-”

“Greenberg, you don’t just ask a man about his personal life like that!” Coach argued. “Go run a lap around the building,” he ordered.

Stiles jogged up and put down the baby bag, smiling and holding his hands out. “Noa! High five!” he said, taking Noa’s hand and slapping it against his. “Good job, Monkey!”

Noa squealed, only to stop when he looked past Stiles and saw a lot of people coming towards them. He whimpered and turned his head into Danny’s neck. Danny cringed. “Awww it’s okay, Noa.” He kissed his head. “Coach, are we free to go?” he asked, rubbing Noa’s back. “All the strangers freak him out. He’s never really been around this many strangers.”

Coach nodded. “Yeah, sure,” he said, eyeing the baby that Danny held in one arm, taking the bag on the other shoulder and grabbing the carrier with his other hand. “Everybody is dismissed,” he said, then turned and pointed across the parking lot. “EXCEPT YOU GREENBERG! KEEP RUNNING!”

~

Ethan was laying with his head on Danny’s chest, smiling at Noa as he sat on the floor playing with Aiden. Noa was babbling as if he was carrying on a conversation, handing Aiden different toys (and throwing them at him when he didn’t grab them fast enough). Danny chuckled as Noa squealed loudly and lobbed a plastic block at Aiden. Noa turned to look at them when Danny laughed and he held up his hand. “DA! DADA!” he called out and Ethan squeaked, looking up at Danny, chin propped on Danny’s chest. Sure enough, Danny’s warm, soft smile was absolutely beautiful. “You love that so much,” he teased and Danny grinned.

“Well _yeah_. Our baby can say ‘dada’, how cool is that?” he asked, stroking lazily at Ethan’s hair. 

Ethan hummed and relaxed against Danny’s chest again. “Yep, that’s gonna put me to sleep for sure,” he mumbled, eyes fluttering shut as Danny stroked his back slowly, playing with his hair as well.

“Hey Ethan?” John asked, walking in. He stopped to duck down and kiss Noa’s hair, grinning when he squealed. “So a funny thing happened today,” he said, walking over to sit in the chair across from the couch. “Derek came up to me while I was having lunch and sat down with me and proceeded to stutter through the most confusing conversation while surreptitiously stealing my bacon and putting the carrots off of his salad in their place.”

Ethan sat up and grinned at Danny, who rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, he’s doing it!”

Aiden looked up. “Who’s doing what?”

Ethan sat up, leaning against Danny’s legs. “Derek!” He looked at John. “What exactly was he babbling about?”

John chuckled, looking amused. “I think he was trying to let me know he’s going to ask Stiles out and didn’t want me to shoot him, but it came across like he was asking for my medieval daughter’s hand in marriage or something. I’m surprised he didn’t offer me a goat.”

“YES!” Ethan cheered. “Stiles turns eighteen in two days, I had given up hope Derek had the balls to tell Stiles how he feels!”

John shot Ethan a look, eyebrow raised. “So wait, why is Derek just now asking me permission to date Stiles and apparently telling Stiles how he feels if he’s been sneaking into Stile’s room since they came back into town earlier this year?” he asked.

Ethan gaped. “You _knew_?!”

“Son, I’m not Sheriff cause I’m pretty,” John pointed out in clear exasperation. “Now that I know about the werewolf stuff, I’ve paid more attention. I’m not stupid. I know when a person is sneaking across my roof, especially when I’m coming home and Stiles’s window faces the street and I drive up in the yard and see a black leather clad figure hopping through the window.” He leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowed. “So wait, you’re telling me nothing’s been going on there?”

Ethan shook his head, giggling. “Dude, no! And really, you know and thought they were sneaking around together and didn’t say anything?”

John grinned. “Hey, I was young once, too,” he said, then shrugged. “Besides, Derek and I have had our differences, but he’s a good guy and he’s proven himself protecting the kids plenty of times. I figured it was easier to just leave it alone.” He tilted his head. “I’m not really sure I want to know the answer to this now, but… why the hell has Derek been climbing in Stiles’s window if not… that,” he said, making a face.

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Well, it started a long time ago, before Aiden and me were around, but basically Stiles helps Derek research since Derek fails at technology or something. Anyhow, since Derek and Cora came back, it’s mostly just hanging out. We’ve all hung out in there plenty.”

Aiden looked up. “Then why not just use the door? If he’s allowed to be here and there’s no worry about somebody catching onto underage hanky panky, why bother scaling the house?”

Ethan shared a grin with Danny, who tangled their fingers together. “Cause sometimes when you’re in love, you just want to be around somebody without having to deal with other people first.” He leaned over and kissed Danny sweetly. “I still climb in Danny’s window a lot,” he said and Aiden made a face. “I like his family, I just don’t feel like talking to them and stuff, I just wanna go be with Danny. Even if he’s busy, when you’re a werewolf,” he said for John’s benefit. “Just being near somebody that makes you happy and comfortable is really nice. Like with Aiden or Danny or you or Stiles, just hearing any of your heartbeats makes me feel safer even if I’m the Alpha werewolf. With Danny, just being in his room where I can listen to his heartbeat and be surrounded by his scent is totally great, even if he’s at his desk doing homework the whole time I’m there. I’m guessing Derek is the same. He likes just being around Stiles.”

Danny hummed. “Derek really loves him, huh?” he asked and Ethan groaned.

“Oh my God, I thought he was never going to do anything cause he was all ‘no, Stiles deserves more’ and ‘he’s too young to be stuck with someone like me’ and shit like that. So lame,” he said.

Aiden rolled his eyes. “You don’t count, you got knocked up by a kid that wasn’t quite seventeen yet. Derek might not be as comfortable being six years older than Stiles is.”

“And that’s why he waited until he’s eighteen,” Ethan said with a shrug. “He can’t find a logical argument to tell himself no with now. “

John hummed. “Damn, that’s surprisingly mature of Hale. I might actually approve,” he said, looking slightly pained at the thought. “Oh God, I’m approving of my son dating a grown man. What the hell?”

Danny snorted. “Better than my parents. I gave them an adorable grandson and they still mostly tolerate Ethan. They _adore_ Noa, but I’m pretty sure they would rather I have just like grown Noa in a flower pot or something.”

Ethan shrugged. “They’re not mean to me, they’re civil and love my kid, that’s as much as I could’ve hoped for. Besides, you’re the one that matters, not them.” 

Danny smiled and nodded. “Plus I’m eighteen so they can’t say a damn thing about me seeing you anymore like they did a few times before Noa was born.”

Ethan smirked and leaned in to peck his lips. “Damn straight, Baby.”

~

“Mr. Mahealani!” Danny jerked awake, looking around frantically. Mrs. Walker glared at him from her spot at the board. “Since you’re so clearly paying attention, perhaps you can tell us about the distal bone of the finger?”

Danny looked quickly at the board then at his own hand. “Uh… phalanges?” he attempted.

“Good job, only we’re not studying anatomy, this is history,” she said and he blushed. “I know that you can stay awake to learn this stuff if I can stay awake to teach it after my daughter kept me up all night. I’m sure if you went to bed a little earlier instead of going out on week nights, your social life may suffer but you would pay better attention in class.”

Danny looked down. “Sorry.”

“No, I don’t want a sorry, I want you to not snore and disrupt my class,” she said harshly. “Unlike you, some of your classmates don’t have sports scholarships to fall back on, so they can’t let their social life take over the lead up to finals and they shouldn’t have to deal with a snoring student to distract them from a review-“

Danny glared as he cut her off. “I said I was sorry! And for your information, I’ve slept about six hours in the last three days because I’m the one keeping my son this week, and between my son having separation anxiety and six am fall training tryouts that Coach is doing so we can have a team ready before the season starts next semester, I HAVEN’T SLEPT! I’m only at school because I have a test next period so excuse me for dozing off while you drone on about crap we’ve learned already!” he snapped angrily, only to freeze and pale when half the class gasped and stared and the others started whispering and snickering.

Mrs. Walker looked like she’d been slapped, and then her face morphed into one of rage. “You better hope you don’t have lacrosse tryouts this afternoon, Mahealani. Detention!”

He ducked his head in shame. “I- I can’t stay after for detention-“

“You’ll stay or you can go see the principal!” she demanded.

“I can’t, I don’t have a babysitter,” he mumbled and she all but growled.

“Go. NOW!” she demanded.

Danny stood up and grabbed his books, slinging his backpack onto his shoulder as he left without another word. He shoved the door open, letting it fall slamming shut behind him as he stalked down the hall. 

~

Danny got home and flopped on his bed, exhausted both physically and mentally, only to have Noa start crying immediately in the hall. Danny whined into his pillow just as there was a knock and his door opened. “Danny?”

Danny sighed heavily and sat up, smiling tiredly as Tutu walked in with Noa. “Hey there, Monkey,” he said, walking over to take Noa from his grandmother. He pulled him close, smiling. “Hey, don’t cry.”

Tutu shook her head. “He’s cried on and off all day.”

Danny nodded. “It’s the separation anxiety. The sooner Ethan can take him again, the better.” He rocked Noa. “C’mon, baby, I know you miss your dad,” he whispered, kissing his hair.

“How soon will Ethan be able to take him again?” Tutu asked and Danny sighed heavily, going to sit in his desk chair.

“Hopefully one more day,” he answered, spinning back and forth slowly as he tried to calm Noa. “They should have a few more people hired tomorrow and they can start the next day.” He looked at Noa, who was crying. “Then your dad won’t have to work all day and leave you here with just me. Just tonight and maybe tomorrow night then you can go home to Dad,” he said, sighing as he watched big crocodile tears falling down Noa’s cheeks. “Awww, don’t do that,” he soothed. “It makes Daddy’s heart hurt when you do that,” he said, holding Noa close. “I hate when you’re sad, Monkey. I don’t want you to be sad,” he whispered. “I know you miss Dad. I miss Dad too. But you’re okay. It’s just a little longer, I promise.”

Tutu shook her head. “Poor thing,” she said, then looked at him. “You okay here? I need to go.”

Danny nodded tiredly. “I’m fine,” he said, walking over to the bed. He laid down on his back, laying Noa on his chest. Noa’s crying started to turn into whimpers and Danny sighed in relief. “I know this week hasn’t been easy, Noa, but I promise, it will get better very soon. It has to,” he said weakly as he held onto Noa, hoping more than anything he wasn’t lying to him.

~

Danny was ready to _cry_ along with Noa. “Please, I know you’re sleepy, just give in and go to sleep,” he pleaded, rocking him. His parents had already complained the night before and even if he knew Ethan would be there any time, he couldn’t help but want Noa to just calm down for his parents sake if nothing else. 

“Da!” he cried, ribbing at his eyes with his tiny fists. He cried hard, his two little teeth he’d grown showing. The first night Noa had cried all night Danny had worried he was teething again, but he didn’t see any signs so he knew that wasn’t it. He just missed Ethan. Danny bounced him, kissing his head. “Dadadada,” Noa babbled through his tears. Danny gave him his stuffed wolf, but Noa pressed his face to it once and just threw it. “NO!” he cried, letting out a loud wail.

“Noa, please- Noa!” Noa started kicking and nearly screaming. “Noa, don’t do that. Don’t be mean. Daddy wants you to be good, okay?” he attempted, then sighed heavily. “Noa, please-“ He was silenced by knocking on his window. He looked up and saw Ethan on the ledge, looking in with worry etched into every line of his face as he watched Noa’s tantrum. “Look! It’s Dad!” he said loudly. He put Noa in the playpen since he would need both hands and went to unlock the window and slide it up.

Ethan slid through quickly. “I was gonna just ring the bell but I could hear him crying all the way down the street,” he said, passing Danny to go to Noa. 

“DAAAA!” Noa cried, waving his arms at Ethan, still crying. “DA!”

Ethan shushed him. “I’ve got you, Monkey, shhhh.” He picked him up and cuddle him close. Noa immediately made a little almost-growl (something he’d started doing lately) and rubbed his face against Ethan’s cheek. Ethan smiled and nuzzled back, letting Noa scent mark him. “Awww, have you missed me? Dad missed you,” he said, kissing his face. He yawned. “Mmmm I’m so tired,” he said, then turned to Danny with a lazy smile. “Hey, I was gonna ask on the phone earlier but I forgot. You can keep him one more night. You said you don’t have school so your grandmother won’t have to watch him until I get here, you can keep an eye on him until I get in.”

Danny stared at Ethan’s expectant look and realized he didn’t even pose it as a question really. Danny shot him a look. “Ethan, what? No, you don’t have to work tomorrow-“

He rolled his eyes. “I know, but I was up early every morning and worked all day until late every night this week. I’m _exhausted._ ”

Something about that made Danny snap. “YOU are exhausted?!” he barked. “You think _YOU_ are _exhausted_?!” Danny laughed hysterically, pulling at his own hair. “You think you’re tired?! REALLY?! Oh wow, I’m so sorry you had to be up early in the morning and work until late at night waiting tables, you poor _werewolf_ with all that extra energy and stamina! How fucking difficult that must’ve been!”

Noa whimpered and hid his face in Ethan’s neck. Ethan glared at Danny. “Hey, keep it down, you’re scaring him-“

“WHAT like being kept away from you for an _entire five days_ didn’t do that bad enough?!” Danny snapped. “You could’ve fucking come over here at least once or twice! He’s a cub, Ethan, he’s never lost your scent before but you had been gone long enough he lost it!”

Ethan sighed. “I know, but it would just make him a little fussy, he wasn’t scared.”

Danny barely held in the urge to strangle Ethan. “A little fussy?!” he cried angrily. “Ethan, he has done nothing but cry for three days STRAIGHT!”

Ethan groaned, bouncing Noa. “Look, Danny, I’m too tired for this-“

“AND THAT IS THE LAST THING YOU CAN SAY TO MAKE ME CALM DOWN!” Danny full on shouted, face turning red. 

Ethan covered Noa’s ears. “Danny-“

Danny dug his nails into his palms, fighting the urge to throw something out the window just for the satisfaction of breaking something. “You know why I don’t have school tomorrow?! Because I GOT SUSPENDED!” he snarled. “I get you have a job, and I get that this was a rare, unavoidable thing, but I had lacrosse tryouts this week so I had to be _at school_ at six am and then I come home to an agitated grandmother because she’s dealt with an unhappy cub all day and THEN I can barely get him to sleep for more than twenty minutes before he’s up screaming again!”

“What, and you don’t think he wakes up crying for me too?!” Ethan argued. “God, I’m so fucking sorry our _son_ is such a fucking burden on you!” He grabbed Noa’s stuffed wolf and started picking up things one-handed, Noa still in the other arm, to put in his bag. 

Danny glared. “He isn’t a burden! I know babies cry, it’s what they do, but Noa usually wakes up once or twice when I keep him, not _scream all night and all day_ because he lost his Dad’s scent and it’s got him messed up! If you had just come to visit your own child ONCE OR TWICE he wouldn’t have got to the point of never shutting up-“

“Oh so it’s my fault I didn’t want to lose my job?!” Ethan argued. “Fuck you, Danny, do you know how _annoying_ waiting tables is?! I’m sick of food! I can’t stand the smell of ANY food on the menu anymore. I don’t even want to eat anymore but it’s the only job I can take because someone has to watch Noa. God, so what he cried a little-“

“I GOT SUSPENDED!” Danny argued. “I fell asleep in class and then I was so tired I fucking YELLED at my TEACHER for pissing me off and then when I said I couldn’t do detention because I didn’t have a babysitter, I got _suspended_! I have never been sent to the principal’s office in my LIFE and I got suspended because _you couldn’t just come stop Noa from being thrown out of whack_ because losing your scene DID that! You could’ve fucking sent Aiden over with a shirt! God, you didn’t even _call_ , you just called Tutu once a day to make sure Noa wasn’t dying-“

“BECAUSE I TRUSTED YOU WITH OUR SON!” Ethan snarled, eyes flashing red. “I didn’t call or check up on you all the time because I trust that after six months of being a father you can handle him! And now what?! He’s a _burden_ -“

Danny circled to block the door when Ethan headed for it. “I never said Noa was a burden! I don’t blame _him_! You’re the one who could’ve fucking taken into consideration that I’m still in high school, Ethan! I have commitments just like you do! Finals are _next week_! I spent review week falling asleep in class and learning nothing because you couldn’t even drop in to help me _the smallest bit_! You slept what… seven hours every night? Totally uninterrupted?! Sure, you worked all day, but I slept about eight hours _in five days_ with lacrosse, school, and trying to stop my son from CRYING HIS FACE RAW BECAUSE HE WANTED HIS DAD!” he shouted, inches from Ethan. “So don’t you _dare_ say I think my _child_ is a burden when _you_ didn’t even come to see him for _five days_ and that shows exactly how much YOU care about him!”

Ethan growled, crowding Danny against the door, Noa watching silently and almost fearfully form Ethan’s arms, his little eyes flashing gold in response from Ethan’s red ones. “Don’t you ever fucking dare think I don’t care every bit as much about Noa as you EVER will! I swear to God, if you ever imply that I don’t love my cub-“

“You’ll what?” Danny asked in a softer, calmer, but still challenging voice, eyes showing determination not to be afraid of Ethan, even though his teeth had elongated and he had Danny backed into the door. He looked at the claws showing on Ethan’s hands and flicked his eyes back to Ethan’s. “You gonna _hurt me_ , Ethan?” he asked, voice shaking with emotion, not fear. He blinked hard, shaking his head minutely. “What? You’ll hit me? Hurt me?” He tilted his head challengingly. “Kill me? Would you do that? Would you kill me? You told me you’re not a killer anymore. You told me the blood on your hands wasn’t your fault.” Ethan’s eyes widened, flickering back to brown. Danny shook his head, blinking hard against the sting in his eyes. “I love you more than anything in this world besides Noa. But I swear to God, if you ever lay a finger on me, I will do anything I have to to get my child away from you because I’ll be _damned_ if you _ever_ bare your teeth and threaten him with claws,” he said in a deadly serious tone. 

Ethan backed up quickly, taking a quick breath. “Danny, no,” he whispered. He looked up with horrified eyes, tears streaking his cheeks as he shook his head. “I’d never hurt you. I’m- I’m sorry. I’d- It was just instinct when you- you challenged my paternal side and- and I’d never have hurt you. I’d never have actually did anything, I swear-“

“Danny?” There was a tapping at the door behind him. His mother’s voice filtered in. “Who are you shouting at? Is Ethan here? What’s with the yelling?”

Danny stepped away from the door and pulled it open, steeling his face into a deadly mask of expressionlessness. “Ethan’s just leaving, Mom,” he said in a completely cold voice. “Nothing to worry about.”

Ethan didn’t even look at Mrs. Mahealani. He curled his arms around Noa, holding him close as he sniffled and shook his head. “No, Danny, I’m sorry! I promise, I love you too much to ever-“

“You should go,” Danny said coldly. He edged past Ethan and grabbed Noa’s bag. He finished packing it and held it out behind him, not even turning to face Ethan.

“Danny, please,” Ethan whispered in a broken, terrified tone. “Baby, we should really talk-“

“I don’t think you have anything to say to me, Ethan,” Danny said simply, staring at the wall until Ethan finally took the bag. He turned back and looked at Noa, ignoring Ethan’s eyes. He leaned in close enough that he could kiss Noa’s head without so much as brushing Ethan. “I love you, Noa. Be good, okay?” he whispered, closing his eyes as he rested his lips against Noa’s head. “Bye, Monkey.”

Ethan didn’t move for a moment but Danny simply walked over to his window and shut it, then headed to his desk, sitting and clearly ignoring him. Ethan opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, biting his lip. He reached up and wiped his face, then turned to see Danny’s mother watching from the doorway, looking concerned. He nodded and forced a smile. “I’ll see us out, it’s okay,” he whispered.

As soon as they were gone, Danny put his head in his hands at his desk, biting back the bile threatening to rise in his throat.

~

Ethan had got Noa to sleep easily enough – he seemed so tired he could barely keep his head up – and afterwards, he was stuck replaying the night’s events over and over in his head. He curled onto his side, looking over at where Aiden was asleep in his bed across the room. He could feel the tears coming and he didn’t want to wake Aiden. He stood and tiptoed out of their room, closing the door softly. He saw light coming from Stiles’s bedroom door that was cracked open and he shuffled closer. He peeked in and hesitated from knocking when he saw Stiles wasn’t alone. Derek was lying on the bed with his head hanging over the foot, looking down at where Stiles was wrapping presents already on the floor. He looked so content that Ethan started to back away, but Derek looked up, sensing him, and Stiles followed Derek’s eyes, stopping immediately, his smile dropping when he saw Ethan’s face in the dim hall.

“Ethan? Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked.

Ethan took a breath and shuffled into the room. He smiled tiredly and knelt across from Stiles’s wrapping area, looking at the small stack of boxes behind him. “Are these all Noa’s?” he asked, looking at the various sized boxes of toys still to be wrapped. “Wow, where did you get so much money?”

Stiles shrugged. “Dad gave me money to buy presents. I kinda spent it all on Noa,” he admitted bashfully, grinning. “I’ll have to break into my own savings for everybody else, but it’s okay,” he said. “Noa deserves a great first Christmas.”

Ethan smiled, but then his smile slipped as he imagined what could happen if Noa had to spend half of Christmas with them and half of it with Danny’s family. He had imagined for weeks what it would be like when he and Danny spent Christmas morning at the Stilinski house curled up together, waiting on Noa to wake up so they could take him downstairs and eat a big Stiles-cooked breakfast before everybody gathered to watch Noa’s first Christmas morning present tackling. It was still three weeks from Christmas, but he couldn’t imagine it going that way now. He pictured what was supposed to be his first Christmas with his family including waking up alone and texting Danny about when he wanted Noa and then watching his cub go away from him to spend half of Christmas day somewhere else and he couldn’t help the lump growing in his throat or the tightness in his chest.

“Ethan!” Ethan snapped out of it and looked at Stiles, only to realize he had tears in his eyes and Stiles had clearly called his name a few times. “Ethan, what’s wrong?” Stiles demanded.

Ethan let out a whine that was more canine than human and shook his head, shrugging his shoulders to ease the tension as he fought down his emotions. “I- I screwed up, Stiles.” He scoffed, laughing humorlessly at himself. “I fucked up _bad_.”

Stiles frowned. “How bad?”

Ethan winced. “Well, best case scenario, I’ve just ruined Noa’s first Christmas. Worst case…” He looked up and bit his lip. “I- I may have lost my mate.”

“WHAT?!” Stiles squeaked, flailing somewhat in shock until Derek wordlessly reached out and held him upright. “Ethan, what _happened_?!”

Ethan put his head in his hands. “We had a fight. A bad one. We- we’ve never fought like that.” He looked up. “Stiles I fucked up bad. I was tired but I guess I overestimated what a cub would be like without its parents scent. I thought he’d just be a little fussy but Danny- Danny acts like he hasn’t slept in days. He got _suspended_ because he yelled at a teacher he was so exhausted and cranky.”

Stiles made a face. “He did seem extra brutal in try outs. He knocked my ass halfway across the field once,” he said, rubbing at his shoulder. “Crap, what did you do?”

Ethan groaned, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I was exhausted too – even if now I see that I had it easy compared to him – and I said some STUPID shit about him thinking Noa’s a burden or something and he just- he yelled and I yelled and we were screaming at each other.” He looked up. “We’ve never yelled, Stiles. Never!”

Stiles gave him an apologetic shrug. “I can’t really… help there.” He nodded at Derek, who was watching silently, chin propped on his crossed arms at the foot of the bed. “We yell all the time. I only noticed since we got together that most of the times he shoved me into stuff he was pulling pigtails because he doesn’t handle his feelings well,” he said and Derek glared at him. “What?! Dude, you _asked for my southern belle hand in marriage_ before you told me how you feel.”

“I did not-“

“My dad says it was and I believe him, not the one trying to hide his shamefully embarrassing blunder,” he teased, grinning. “The point is, he hasn’t done the shoving thing in more than a year, but we yell all the time. Even if we’re not really angry, Derek will get frustrated and yell and I’ll yell about him yelling and half the time it ends in laughter but there’s still yelling.” He knocked his head against Derek’s elbow affectionately. “So I can’t help with that. I don’t know what it’s like the other way.”

Ethan shook his head. “We bicker but like… Danny’s never yelled. I’ve never yelled. Oh God, we were fighting while I was _holding Noa_ ,” he admitted. “He was so quiet and tense. And that was before I went alpha,” he added.

Stiles blinked. “You… why? You’ve never done that to Noa. He’s never needed it-“

“No,” Ethan said in a broken voice. “Danny- he made some crack about how it was clear I didn’t love Noa all that much if I couldn’t even come see him this week – and I _know_ he didn’t mean it, I knew it then! – and I just… I lost it,” he whispered in a broken tone. He shook his head, looking up at Stiles. “I- I pushed him against the door. Not hard, he was already blocking it but I- I got up in his face and I know for sure my claws and teeth were out. Noa’s eyes went gold so I guess it was enough he reacted. I growled at him, Stiles,” he breathed “I almost threatened him too! He cut me off before I could say what I’d do to him if he ever said I didn’t love my cub again and asked if I’d hurt him.” He let out a broken sound, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Stiles he went cold. He wasn’t even scared, he just went _cold_ and he wasn’t even my Danny! He started going on about how ‘would you hit me? Hurt me? Kill me?’ and he was going on about how he thought I wasn’t really a killer but would I actually do it? And then he said that- that if I ever hurt him he’d take Noa and make sure I never got close enough to bare my teeth at Noa instead.” Stiles gave him a somewhat guarded, almost suspicious look and he shook his head rapidly. “I would _never_ have actually hurt him! Neither of them! I couldn’t hurt Danny-“

“No, you couldn’t.” Derek sighed and pressed his face into the bedspread, then sat up on his elbows, looking at Stiles. “He couldn’t ever actually hurt Danny. He never would. The only way he could ever hurt Danny is if Danny was going to hurt Noa or Aiden or you or your dad,” he said simply.

“Exactly!” Ethan exploded. “There is nothing in me that could hurt him-“

“No, I mean physically can’t,” Derek pressed. “Ethan, Danny is your mate. That is as clear as day. You don’t _have_ to be with a mate, I didn’t even know for sure he was your mate when you were pregnant, but it’s clear to anybody with werewolf instincts that Danny is your honest to God mate. The kind that gets into your blood and in your soul. You literally couldn’t harm Danny.” He shook his head. “Unless it was to protect someone in your pack, your instincts and your body won’t let you. I’m not sure, maybe if he was threatening a friend or somebody else that isn’t in your pack, but even then your instincts would convince you that they were a threat and Danny was the one who needed protecting.” He tilted his head. “You didn’t know this?”

Ethan shook his head. “I’ve never known anybody with a mate,” he said softly.

Stiles turned his head. “Is that why you can’t push me into doors anymore?” he asked Derek, who rolled his eyes.

“I don’t push you around because your father would shoot my ass for abuse. I could do it because it wouldn’t injure you, just hurt a little.” His eyes softened some. “But no. You’re my mate. I don’t even think I could defend myself if you were trying to kill me,” he admitted and Stiles’s eyes widened. “Most wolves can, especially alphas like Ethan and Aiden, but me? Even if biology wasn’t doing it to me, I could _never_ hurt you,” he said earnestly, looking into Stiles’s eyes. “I was going to let Cora kill me when we first found her again because I couldn’t bring myself to kill my own pack. I don’t have that killer in me. Killing Peter that time was the hardest thing I ever had to do because, psychotic at the time or not, murdered my sister or not, he was _family_ and I didn’t want to do it but if I didn’t Scott would and I knew he couldn’t handle it,” he explained softly. He rested his chin on his arms, giving Stiles a soft smile. “But even without the instinct, you could put a bullet in me and I would probably take it because hurting you is the worst thing I can imagine.” He sobered up and turned to Ethan. “But as far as instincts go, you _can’t_ hurt Danny out of spur of the moment anger. Now that may not comfort him any if you changed on him, but you never have to worry about hurting him.”

Ethan ducked his head. “I think he knows that. He may not know the instinct thing, but he wasn’t afraid.” He snorted. “He wasn’t at all afraid. There was no fear at all. Just hurt and anger. He was provoking me and wasn’t afraid. He _knows_ I won’t hurt him physically. But I guess the fact I even reacted that way just- it hurt him. So bad, Stiles,” he mumbled. “Even if I don’t lose him, there is no amount of groveling that will make him forgive me in under three weeks.”

Stiles hummed. “I dunno, maybe after he cools down you guys can talk rationally? Danny’s very level headed. I mean, he handled you being magically pregnant way too well. He should be able to handle this after he’s got over this hell of a week.” He tilted his head. “Probably won’t be _easy_ , it will take serious amounts of groveling and sexual favors, but at least by Christmas he’ll be happy enough about Noa’s first Christmas he’ll probably give you some slack.”

Ethan snorted. “Not all of us are you, Stiles. I really doubt sex is going to make Danny less angry at me. You’re just a dirty little shit,” he teased. He sighed. “I guess he won’t be as angry when he’s calmed down. I just… I’m willing to take time. I deserve it. I did something horrible. But I care so much less about how much Danny hating me could hurt me and more about how much Danny and me not talking will hurt Noa. He’s happiest when we’re all together and now… that probably won’t be happening soon.”

Derek shook his head. “Human parents care just as much about their cubs as werewolf parents. If Noa having a good Christmas is really what you care about the most, then whenever you and Danny cool off, explain that. Tell him that you don’t care how angry he stays at you, just that you don’t want to ruin Noa’s first Christmas. He’ll respond way better to that because Noa is his cub. I know from experience watching it what a parent will do for their cub.”

Stiles smirked at Ethan. “And then offer him sexual favors,” he said with a devious grin, laughing when Ethan shot him a dark look and rolled his eyes at him.

~

Ethan gave Danny until school ended the Friday following their fight. He didn’t try to talk to him – as hard as it was – about anything besides Noa. They had to see each other and be civil when exchanging Noa, but Ethan was glad Danny at least didn’t seem to hold a grudge. Danny looked just as sad as he was, so he had hopes that there was hope for them. His immediate worry was Noa first, himself second. He waited until time to take Noa to Danny’s house to spend Friday night and all of Saturday with the Mahealani family to try and talk to Danny. 

There wasn’t a lot of room in Danny’s room, which had become the room Noa stayed in most of the day to keep from having to baby proof the living room, but Danny had talked his parents into letting him put bunch of baby toys in the sun room for Noa after he started getting big enough for larger toys. Noa’s favorite was a little activity center that he could sit in and bat at all the colorful, noisy toys. Instead of leaving like he knew Danny expected, Ethan sat down in one of the wicker chairs beside where Danny had sat next to the activity center and watched with a fond smile as Noa giggled gleefully as he swatted at a cow that went ‘moo’ when it was hit.

Danny laughed softly when Noa hit the cow and squealed excitedly when it mooed at him. Ethan giggled, biting his lip. “He loves that thing,” he said softly and Danny nodded. 

“I had to take off the chicken. For some reason, the rooster crowing scared him to tears. No idea what’s going on there,” he said and Ethan smiled. They sat in silence watching Noa playing before Danny finally sighed softly and turned to look up at Ethan. “You’re waiting for me to talk,” he said softly and Ethan smiled tightly.

“You’re smart, you knew what I was doing when I sat down,” he said and Danny shrugged absently. Ethan looked Danny in the eye, wanting to prove to him that he was telling the truth. “I know things aren’t good right now. Between us,” he said softly. “But Christmas is in a week and a half,” he started and Danny gave him a suspicious look. He shook his head. “I’m not asking you to forgive me just like this. I would never insult you by asking you to just get over something.” He took a breath. “But I want to ask if we can just… talk. Be civil.” He looked over at Noa. “It’s his first Christmas, Danny,” he said softly. “I don’t want him to have anything but the Christmas I dreamed of for him. I want you at our house with us when Noa wakes up. I want you there for a big Stilinski Christmas starting with a Stiles breakfast before we watch Noa wreak havoc on the thousand presents Stiles has wrapped for him. I want- I just want his first Christmas to be good, okay?” he asked weakly. He turned back to Danny. “No matter what happens between me and you, I don’t ever want us having problems to become Noa having problems. We have so much to deal with, I know that. I know this isn’t just something we’ll fix in a day, but Noa is the most important thing in this world and I don’t want his very first Christmas to be anything but a big, happy family day. If you don’t want to even talk to each other, I can do it, I just want him to have us both there and have us not be fighting.”

Danny looked over at Noa and smiled. “I want him to have a great Christmas too,” he agreed. He looked up at Ethan, meeting his eyes. Ethan could see so much lingering hurt in his eyes. He didn’t see anger – or worse, resentment – but he saw so much pain. He knew he had hurt Danny and even if Danny had overreacted at first, _he_ was the one who had really screwed up. He knew it and he accepted it. He just wanted things to be okay someday, even if it wasn’t today. He could only hope that Danny wanted the same.

Danny nodded. “We can do that. We can be civil and interact for it.” He smiled sadly. “I don’t want to not talk to you, though. I know it’s probably best if we just… wait until after Christmas to really talk. I know neither of us want to risk another fight this close to Christmas, but I can’t go a week and a half ignoring you, Ethan. Even if we don’t talk about anything but Noa, just keeping it civil, I need to still see you.” He bit his lip and Ethan could see something in Danny’s big, beautiful brown eyes that made his gut twist: it was Hope.

Danny let out a shaky breath. “This will not end us, Ethan. I refuse to let it tear us apart,” he said with conviction that eased so many of Ethan’s fears. He looked at Ethan with a firm resolution etched into his features. “Things aren’t good, but no matter what, I love you. I couldn’t give you up when I found out you had killed people. I’m sure as hell not letting a fight, no matter how bad, be what messes this up.”

Ethan smiled sadly and nodded eagerly. “That’s great. That’s- that’s perfect. Thank you.” He laughed weakly, relief coursing through his veins until his hands shook with it. “You’re my mate, Danny. I couldn’t do without you. I’d never be okay without you. Losing you is… unbearable to think about.”

Danny smiled and nodded. “Then let’s just be civil for Noa until after Christmas before we risk talking about serious things.”

“Agreed,” Ethan said, fighting back a blinding smile. He looked at Noa and hesitated. “Can- can I stay? Just for a little longer?” he asked Danny unsurely. “I just wanna stay with him a little longer.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Of course, Ethan, I’d never ask you to leave him if you don’t want to.”

“Thank you, Danny,” Ethan said with a grateful smile. And _God_ did he ever mean it.

~

Danny looked at the scrap book he was about to wrap and his chest tightened some as he touched the drawing of a little wolf carrying a lacrosse stick on the front of the cover. He opened it and smiled at all the photos of Noa when he was a newborn. The first picture was of Ethan holding Noa and smiling at the camera when Noa was about two days old. He turned the page and bit his lip when he saw the picture of Ethan giggling while trying to untangle Noa’s hand from his ‘6’ necklace. It had been just over a year since he gave Ethan that necklace and he’d never seen Ethan without it. He took it off only to shower, he had once said. It was something so juvenile, so ‘high school’, but Ethan loved it so much because it had been the first birthday present anyone had ever given him and it was from _Danny_. He wondered absently if he had taken it off after they fought.

Danny couldn’t imagine what his life would be like if he lost Ethan. He looked at another page, watching different people come into the photos with Noa, but without fail, the one constant was Ethan. Danny wasn’t in but a very few pictures, since he took most of them. He touched one photo of him and Ethan lying asleep on the floor with Noa lying on Danny’s chest, Ethan’s arm over both of them. It was his _family_. He couldn’t escape that thought.

He sighed and put the scrapbook facedown, pulling the paper over to tape it. He knew that what had happened between him and Ethan was something that should have never happened and absolutely could _never_ happen again. It wasn’t just on Ethan either. Danny couldn’t ever scream at him again. Especially in front of Noa. Danny didn’t know if Ethan thought Danny was just mad or if he knew about the guilt, but he knew that Ethan was hurting, too. Danny _was_ angry at Ethan. He still was in spite of cooling down. But more than anger at Ethan for turning on him as if he was a threat, Danny’s worst problem as the _guilt_ at knowing that they had fought so viciously with Noa right there between them.

It was their first _real_ fight, as well. Danny knew they had rushed and did so many things backwards in their relationship, but an unexpected conception after only two months together did that to people. While Ethan was pregnant, Danny didn’t dare get angry at him for any of the little things he did. They bickered some, but between pregnant Ethan and then Noa being nearby most of the time since his birth, they didn’t ever really argue. They had never yelled, never slammed doors, never got so angry they hung up or walked out, and they had absolutely never started circling each other like threats. Ethan baring his fangs had been so very much too far. Danny knew that if most people knew what happened, they would call him an idiot forever forgiving Ethan. 

But in his heart, Danny knew Ethan would never have actually hurt him. No matter what, Ethan wasn’t that person. 

Danny was interrupted by a knock at his bedroom door before it opened. He looked up from his spot on the floor on Noa’s play mat and saw Lydia peeking in. “Can I help you?” he asked and she rolled her eyes, shoving the door open. He frowned when Jackson and Aiden followed her. “Wow, what are you two doing hanging out with each other?” he asked, then looked at Lydia. “Please tell me they’re not about to answer ‘a threesome’,” he pleaded and she snorted.

“Please,” she said, flopping on Danny’s bed, kicking her heels off beside the bed. “Been there, done that,” she said and Danny gave her a horrified look. “No, not at the same time, come on,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m allowed to just be friends with people I’ve had sex with in the past,” she said and Danny shrugged.

“Suit yourself. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be friends with any of my exes,” he said, making a face.

“What’re you even doing?” Jackson asked, sitting at the desk, spinning in Danny’s chair while Aiden sat on the bed beside Lydia. 

Danny shot him a ‘no shit’ look. “I’m building a robot,” he deadpanned, then held up a piece of tape. “Wrapping a present, dumbass.” 

“Christmas is like two days from now,” Jackson said. “Why are you wrapping it now?”

Danny ducked his eyes. “I put it off,” he muttered, finishing off the tape. 

Aiden looked down at his hands awkwardly, ignoring Danny’s eyes. “Is it Ethan’s?” he asked and Danny nodded. “He didn’t wrap yours until this afternoon,” he said and Danny smiled softly, looking down at the finished gift. Aiden bit his lip. “You know I wouldn’t normally offer my opinion, but I have to ask if you guys are going to be okay? You’re not going to break up, right? Because Ethan is really messed up already just from this ‘be civil’ thing. If you guys break up, I don’t know what the hell will happen and I _really_ can’t handle that,” he stressed.

Danny groaned, leaning back on his hands. “I hope not. I mean, we’re _not_ ,” he stressed. “I refuse to let this break us up. I just hope things are better soon.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “What even happened? I’m out of the loop, I get my information from Lydia and listening to Stiles talk too loud.”

“Yeah, you missed school the next day,” Lydia said. “It had to be pretty rough.”

Danny snorted. “No, the same reason I missed school is the same reason we fought really. I got suspended because I fell asleep in class and when the teacher got on my nerves I snapped at her and when she gave me detention I refused because I didn’t have a babysitter, so I got suspended.” He waved a hand. “We were both exhausted. It was a terrible week for us both and he said the wrong thing and I lost it and he lost it over me yelling and we really kinda went for the most painful things we could throw at each other and it was just… horrible.” He shuddered. “And I know he regretted it immediately, and I regretted it immediately, but the damage was done. We didn’t talk more than passing Noa off for over a week and then the past week and a half we’ve been civil with each other. We didn’t want to risk another fight before Christmas because Ethan really was worried we’d ruin Noa’s first Christmas.” He shook his head. “We’ll be fine, though.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Dude, it can’t be worth all that. How good is the sex if it’s worth all this stress?”

Aiden glared. “Hey, you’re talking about my brother, asshole!”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “And? You don’t care about his sex life-“

“No, but I care about his family so shut up about him and Danny,” Aiden defended. “It’s not your damn business what they do together.”

“And it’s yours?” Jackson argued.

Aiden glowered, eyes flashing once. “He’s my brother and Noa is my nephew. It’s my pack.”

Danny rolled his eyes at them both. “We’re going to be okay, Aiden. And Jackson, you can leave us alone, okay? I _love_ Ethan, and that’s more important than our sex life. I love Ethan and I love our son and things may suck but we’re still a family and family sticks together when things get tough and we’re going to work it out.”

Jackson shook his head. “Danny, see some sense. You’re eighteen! You’re in high school!”

Danny shot him a look. “Earth to Asshole, teenage parents aren’t exactly _rare_. Me being eighteen hasn’t got a damn thing to do with the fact that I’m a father and I have a mate. Seriously, lay off,” he grumbled. 

Jackson held up his hands. “Whatever, I just think you’re not thinking about this-“

“I think I think about it every damn minute of the day, Jackson. I have a child, I have to think about him virtually every minute of the day, okay?” He shook his head, standing up and taking the present to go lay on his desk. “And what happened between Ethan and me isn’t too bad to fix, especially not when our son depends on it. So let it go,” he said with finality.

~

When Danny got to the Stilinski house, Aiden answered the door, finger to his lips. “Noa’s still asleep,” he said, leading the way to the kitchen. Derek was dutifully stirring something while Stiles flitted around cooking. John was at the table with Ethan, sipping their respective cups of coffee. He smiled at John, then went over to take the seat across from Ethan while Aiden sat beside him. 

“Merry Christmas,” Danny said to them all.

“Merry Christmas!” Stiles said eagerly, then kicked Derek on his way past until Derek sighed and rolled his eyes before fixing on a surprisingly convincing fake smile.

“Hi, Danny! Merry Christmas!” he said brightly before his face returned to normal and he sent Stiles a resentful glare. 

Stiles just smirked and backtracked to lean in and kiss Derek’s cheek. “I love you, you snarky jackass,” he said with a grin, earning a reluctantly fond eye roll from Derek.

Ethan giggled. “Derek looks weird smiling. Don’t make him do that anymore,” he said and Derek gave Stiles a pointed glance as if to say, ‘see, they agree.’ Stiles scoffed.

“Lies, Derek looks his age when he smiles, he doesn’t look so old,” he said making a face. “A happy, smiling Derek is even more beautiful than a normal Derek.”

John rolled his eyes. “Son, you can’t make the boy smile if he doesn’t want to smile. Manipulation is the first sign of an unhealthy relationship.”

Aiden snorted. “Stiles isn’t manipulative, Derek’s just whipped,” he said and Derek growled at him, eyes flashing. Aiden smirked. “What? It’s true! He doesn’t manipulate you, he just asks and you say yes because you can’t tell him no!”

Derek raised his eyebrows. “Have you ever tried winning an argument with Stiles? Seriously? He should be a lawyer,” he said and Stiles grinned from the stove.

“Blame my dad, he’s who I had to argue with to get this good,” he said, swatting Derek’s hip behind him. “Get me the eggs, dude.”

“Get them yourself,” Derek said and Stiles made a face.

“Don’t be mean just to assert your manliness or whatever. Trust me, as tight as those jeans are they know you’re _all man_ , just get the eggs. I can’t burn the pancakes,” he argued and Derek’s ears turned bright red when Aiden and Ethan cracked up. He went to get the eggs without further argument.

Danny just rolled his eyes. He put on an air of sympathy before saying, “Your jeans aren’t that tight, don’t worry.” His smirk turned devious when Derek turned to glare at him.

Derek’s retort was stopped when the three werewolves all stopped and tilted their heads to look up at the ceiling. Danny glanced at John, but before he could ask Ethan beamed. “Noa’s up,” he explained quickly, then jumped up and all but skipped from the room, he was so clearly excited. 

Danny stood up and followed him, eager to greet his son. He caught up with Ethan as he was pulling Noa out of the crib, quieting his fussing. “Look! Daddy’s here!” Ethan said, turning Noa towards Danny.

Danny walked over and reached out for Noa, who held out his arms, fussing and reaching for Danny. “Merry Christmas, Monkey,” Danny greeted, looked up at Ethan’s bright smile. “Come on, let’s get you changed and we can go downstairs to eat breakfast with Papa, doesn’t that sound fun?” he asked, and Ethan handed Danny things while they got Noa dressed together – a rarity if he was honest – and then headed downstairs to eat breakfast together.

After breakfast, Stiles waited just long enough for his dad to put his fork down last before grabbing Noa up. “Come on, we’ve got a baby to watch open presents!” he said eagerly, nearly vibrating in place from excitement. “C’mon, Noa! Present time!” he said, carrying him into the living room with only one backward glance to shout, “Move it, this baby has toys to open!”

John exchanged a look with Ethan. “I’m going to have like six grandkids, aren’t I?” he asked, and Ethan nodded, snickering when he saw the slightly panicked look on Derek’s face as he froze halfway to standing out of his seat.

“Yep! Who knew giving Stiles a baby would make him _even more_ maternal than he already was?” Ethan asked, shoving at Derek lightly when he stood. “C’mon, you had to know from his natural caregiver side he was going to want kids someday. Better be up to it if you want a happy mate,” he teased.

When they all got to the living room, Stiles was already on the floor with Noa waiting. “Finally!” he said, watching them all take seats. “We good now?! YES!” He grabbed a box and put it in front of Noa. “Okay, Danny?”

Danny nodded, waving his phone. “I’m rolling,” he said, his smile growing as he filmed Stiles tugging the corners free to show Noa.

“And then you just yank it,” he said, tugging it until it tore some. Noa seemed amazed by this and, without fail, he grabbed a handful of the paper and yanked, squealing excitedly when the paper tore more. “You got it!” Stiles cheered. “Come on, keep going,” he said, gleefully instructing and assisting until Noa had unwrapped the bright colored box with giant, baby safe blocks in it. 

“That’s so good, Monkey!” Ethan said brightly, sliding off the couch to kneel beside Noa. “You did so good!” he praised, kissing his hair. “Alright, now let’s try another!”

Danny filmed the entire time Noa was opening presents. It took a while with his tiny, uncoordinated hands tugging at the paper bit by bit, but he didn’t want to miss a second of his baby’s first Christmas. When he opened the last one, Danny clapped for him. “You did it!” he said, crawling over to kiss Noa’s head. “I’m so proud of you! Daddy’s big boy,” he said, letting Noa rub their faces together. He was more than used to his baby’s emerging wolfish habits.

“And now grownup presents,” John said, then smirked. “And Stiles,” he added and Stiles rolled his eyes at his father. 

Danny looked over at his bag by the couch, then stood up to walk over, coming back. They had pooled together Noa’s presents days ago to put under the tree from ‘Santa’, so the other gifts were in his bag. He had gotten John, Stiles, and Aiden gift cards since he didn’t really know what else to buy them. Derek insisted nobody buy him gifts, but Danny made sure to text Stiles that his present was for both him and Derek since Derek was too stubborn. Stiles had a few things from his dad, and Ethan and Aiden had bought him some archaic legends book together, but when he opened Derek’s present, he actually jerked, nearly dropping it. “Jesus Christ, Derek!” He turned to give him a stern look, holding up one of the newest, hottest phones that was out. “Where the hell did you get this kind of money?” he asked and Derek rolled his eyes.

“You forget, Stiles. Independently wealthy.”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “Actually I didn’t _know_ about that. Why the hell do you and Cora live in a house that looks like it was once a meth lab if you’re ‘independently wealthy’?”

Derek shrugged. “Nothing wrong with our house. It has running water and a heater and it doesn’t leak. That’s all you really need.” 

Stiles snickered, but sighed. “You’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met, dude,” he said, though he leaned back towards Derek’s chair and kissed him sweetly in thanks.

Everybody else had given their gifts so Danny finally turned to Ethan and pulled his present out of his bag. Ethan looked nervous as he fingered the bow on the box in his hand. “Merry Christmas, Eth,” he said softly, smiling a small, hopeful smile as he handed him the gift. 

Ethan nodded, handing him the box. “You too, Danny.” 

Danny opened his gift and was surprised at the new camera. It was really nice. It also amused him that he got a camera and gave Ethan pictures he’d taken. He looked up to make a joke about it, only to stop when he saw Ethan staring at the open scrapbook with a painfully open show of emotions on his face. He reached out and touched Ethan’s hand, fighting his own pulse rate rising when he realized he hadn’t so much as touched Ethan in weeks. “Eth?” he asked and Ethan finally looked up with a wide-eyed, conflicted expression. He was aware of everyone watching them. “Ethan?”

Ethan finally bit his lip, then let out a pained sound. “Danny,” he breathed, then dropped the book, rolling onto his knees in one move as he threw his arms around Danny’s shoulders, hugging him almost painfully tight. “It’s amazing. God, it’s so perfect,” he muttered, face tucked into Danny’s neck.

The angle was awkward, but Danny wrapped his arms around Ethan as best he could. “It’s okay, Baby,” he whispered against Ethan’s hair and Ethan shook slightly.

“Thank you so much,” he said, still clinging. “It’s- it’s everything.”

Danny let out a weak chuckle, looking skyward as he nodded. “I know what you mean,” he said, and he _did_. The photos of their family growing, of them and their son together, they reminded Danny of how much he had and how much he would lose if it fell apart between him and Ethan. He knew Ethan saw the exact same thing. He turned his head and kissed Ethan’s temple, curling his fingers around the back of Ethan’s neck as he held him. “I’ve got you,” he promised.

He heard Aiden mutter something about giving them space and was aware that everyone had left, Stiles taking Noa to open and assemble some of his new toys, but he was more aware of the way Ethan felt in his arms. Ethan let out a soft laugh. “I love you, Danny. That’s what hurts the most. I love you _so much_ ,” he admitted sadly.

Danny laughed and nodded. “God, don’t I know it,” he agreed. He pulled back some, cupping Ethan’s face in his hand, stroking a finger along his cheek as he looked into those beautiful brown eyes. “Eth, just for today can we just… put aside our problems, ignore the fact we need to talk seriously, and just spend this one day like the family we should be? Please? I can’t just treat you like one of the others all day today. I need to spend Christmas with my _mate_ ,” he expressed.

Ethan nodded, smiling excitedly. “Yeah, I think that can work,” he said, then hesitated when he started to lean in and kiss Danny. Danny shook his head and pulled Ethan the last few inches, kissing him slowly, cautiously, but without any regrets. Danny hadn’t kissed Ethan in nearly three weeks. It was the longest he’d gone without kissing his boyfriend since the first time they kissed over a year ago. 

As the kiss lingered, Danny could only think that it felt like coming home.

~

After an exciting day of taking the party from the Stilinski house to the McCall house for the various packs and their intermingling members to have lunch and hanging out all afternoon, Danny had to take Noa to his house for dinner with his family last. He was already pretty tired and Noa not wanting to leave Ethan wasn’t helping.

“C’mon, Noa. We need to go, okay?” he tried, but when Ethan held him out, Noa shook his head, cried ‘no’, and clung to Ethan. Ethan gave him a horribly apologetic look but Danny didn’t even have the energy to try and coax Noa. “Alright, I guess Dad can just come with us, Noa.”

Ethan paled. “Your parents didn’t want me there tonight, Danny. After our fight, your mom specifically said I wasn’t welcome back-“

“And she can get over that,” Danny said resolutely. “Unless you don’t want to come, that I’ll understand,” he amended.

Ethan smiled and shook his head. “I’ll come. But your mom won’t be happy.”

Danny shrugged. “It’s you and Noa or no Noa. I think she’ll deal.”

Ethan smirked. “Whatever you say,” he said, then turned around. “C’mon, Noa, let’s go get Dad dressed too,” he said as they headed back upstairs.

When they came back down, Danny actually sucked in a breath. He and Ethan had mostly only been together at one of their houses since Ethan got pregnant, so he’d almost forgot how gorgeous Ethan was dressed in something besides clothes to lounge around the house or go to work in. He wasn’t dressed up much, just a nicer pair of jeans and a pale lavender button down with the sleeves rolled up. “Ready?” he asked and Ethan nodded.

“Yeah, we’re good.” He rolled his eyes as he hefted Noa on his hip again. “Somebody cried when Dad put him down just to button a shirt,” he said giving Noa a pointed look.

Danny chuckled. “You’re gonna have to ride in the backseat and hold his hand in the car seat,” he teased and Ethan sighed playfully, rolling his eyes.

“The things I do for my cub,” he said with a tiny grin before they turned to head out.

When they got to Danny’s house, he had to park on the street since the driveway was blocked by relatives cars. “Okay, fair warning,” he started as they got out and he waited for Ethan to circle the car. “Nobody’s expecting you, my mom is still unhappy, my grandmother still doesn’t really like you, but my dad thinks you’re cool and my aunt, my uncle, and their families don’t know much about us at all. My parents and grandma don’t really talk about Noa since they can’t explain him, so expect lots of questions. I’m sure by now they’ve realized there’s a baby in the family so they had to tell them something, but I don’t know what.”

Ethan nodded. “What’s the story then? They’ll want something to explain Noa.” He looked at Noa then glanced at Danny. “He looks more like you than me, Danny. We can’t really just say he’s mine from a previous relationship.”

Danny shrugged, smirking playfully. “Just say he’s yours but you have a thing for Hawaiians,” he joked and Ethan rolled his eyes, smiling.

“Yeah, but it’s not like Hawaiian people all look the same, dumbass,” he said. “He doesn’t just look half-Hawaiian, he looks half _you_.” Ethan made a face. “I hate to say it, but you may have to tell them Noa’s the product of sexual experimentation gone wrong,” he said and Danny narrowed his eyes.

“I’ve never liked girls a day in my life, they wouldn’t buy that. I came out when I was like _thirteen_ ,” he pressed.

“Well hell, want to tell them the truth?” Ethan challenged with a pointed look. “Didn’t think so.”

Danny smiled and rolled his eyes. “Fine, how about I just say ‘use your imagination’ and refuse to answer?” he said and Ethan chuckled, shaking his head.

“Whatever you want,” he said, then hefted Noa. “C’mon, Grandma and Grandpa and Tutu are waiting for you, Monkey,” he said, leading the way so that Danny could get the baby bag for him. “Daddy’s coming, don’t worry,” he said when Noa craned his head over Ethan’s shoulder and watched Danny intently.

Danny let them inside and called out to his mom. “Mom, we’re back.”

“Danny?” Ethan stopped as a tall woman with long, dark hair came into the foyer, then stopped, eyeing them. “Oh hi, I’m Carmen, Danny’s aunt,” she introduced, holding out her hand.

Ethan smiled, reaching out to shake it. “Hi, I’m Ethan,” he said, then yelped when Noa tipped back, looking around Ethan to see Danny, hanging onto Ethan’s necklace chain to keep himself up. “Noa! Stoooop,” he whined playfully, tugging Noa upright. “Let go,” he said, tugging at Noa’s hand.

Danny came back from putting the bag in the living room. “Noa, don’t choke your Dad,” he chastised, carefully disentangling Noa’s fingers from Ethan’s necklace. He looked at it and smiled fondly at Ethan, who just gave him a shy smile and shrugged.

“DADA!” Noa cried, holding his arms to Danny, who laughed and took him from Ethan.

“Oh _now_ you’ll come to me,” Danny said, kissing Noa. “Hey Aunt Carmen,” he said, then turned Noa. “Noa, this is Daddy’s aunt,” he said, smiling. “Like Uncle Aiden is your uncle, Aunt Carmen is Daddy’s aunt.”

Ethan smiled and put a hand on Noa’s back. “I don’t think he can really follow that, Danny,” he pointed out.

Carmen eyed them. “So… your mom said you had a baby,” she said to Danny, glancing between them. “How did _that_ happen?” she asked.

Ethan shot Danny an expectant look and Danny rolled his eyes. “It’s not important how, just the fact that it did does,” he said. “Aunt Carmen, this is my boyfriend, Ethan. And this is our son, Noa.”

“Well, he’s a cutie!” she said, smiling at Noa. “Awww, you’re just adorable,” she cooed. “I always through your Daddy was a looker, kid, but you’re giving him a run for his money,” she teased, winking at Danny.

“Dada!” Noa said, reaching out to swat at Danny’s face. “Dadadada.”

Danny ducked out of his reach. “Yep, Daddy’s got you. Now come on, Grandma won’t be too happy with Daddy,” he said to Noa, then reached back, offering his hand to Ethan.

Ethan slid their hands together, fingers tangling. “Lead the way.”

Danny led them into the dining room, where Tutu, his dad, a teenage girl, two men, and four children were already sitting. “Hey Dad, we’re home,” Danny said as they walked in.

His father looked up and smiled when he saw Ethan. “Ethan! Wasn’t expecting to see you. How are you? Good Christmas?”

Ethan smiled and nodded. “Yes, sir. Noa had a great day.”

Mr. Mahealani smiled. He introduced Ethan to the others and then gestured to him. “This is Danny’s boyfriend, Ethan.”

Ethan smiled awkwardly and gave a little wave. Danny tugged at his hand comfortingly. “And this is our son, Noa,” Danny said, smiling at Noa, who was babbling to himself and pulling at Danny’s collar. He looked up at his dad. “How bummed is Mom going to be?” he asked his dad with a devious smirk.

Mr. Mahealani just gave Danny and Ethan a mischievous little smirk. “Oh she’ll get over it.” He gave Ethan a meaningful look. “I’m just glad you decided to come tonight, Son.”

Ethan smiled bashfully and shrugged, edging into Danny slightly. “Anything for my boys,” he said in a shy tone.

He nodded. “Your boys huh? Good.”

Danny and Ethan both smiled happily, knowing that at least one of Danny’s parents approved of them still.

~

After Danny and Ethan put Noa to bed, they went back downstairs. “It’s getting pretty late, I should probably get going,” Ethan said and Danny gave him a playful pout. 

“Really?” he asked and Ethan rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, c’mon, you should get to bed soon too, Noa’s going to be up all night after all this excitement,” he said, then turned to the others in the living room, waving. “It was nice to meet you all,” he said, then turned back to Danny. “Walk me out?”

Danny nodded, gesturing for him to go ahead. When they got to the door, Danny followed Ethan out to the car, then glanced back at the house before throwing his arms up. “They didn’t hate you!”

Ethan laughed loudly at Danny, poking him in the middle. “Don’t be a dork,” he said and Danny grinned.

“C’mon, today kind of went surprisingly perfect,” Danny said, catching Ethan’s hand, tugging him close.

Ethan smiled up at him, sliding his arms around Danny as he pressed against him. “Yeah, it really was,” he said, leaning back some to look up into Danny’s eyes. “I’m glad we did well. Noa’s day was perfect.”

Danny ducked down, pecking Ethan’s lips, pressing their noses together. “I’ve missed you, Eth,” he whispered, sliding his hands up the planes of Ethan’s back. “I never knew how much I’d hate not being able to hold you.”

Ethan smiled sadly, closing his eyes when Danny straightened up and kissed his forehead. “I didn’t kiss you for three weeks. Hadn’t did that since the first time I kissed you,” Ethan said and Danny groaned.

“I _know_. I missed you so much, Ethan.”

Ethan looked up at him, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “I know we still need to really talk about what happened, but can we go ahead and make a pact not to ever fight like this again? Like, ever? Cause this sucked. A lot.”

Danny laughed and nodded, sliding his fingers along the hem of Ethan’s shirt. “Agreed,” he said, leaning down to kiss him again. “I don’t want to stop kissing you,” he joked. “Afraid it might be another three weeks.”

Ethan moaned against his lips. “No freaking way,” he breathed, then sucked in a breath when Danny’s hand slid up the back of his shirt. “Mmmm I don’t wanna but we gotta stop, Baby.”

Danny whimpered playfully, bumping their foreheads together. “But I don’t wanna.”

Ethan started to reply, then stopped, thinking. He adopted a devious little smirk that made Danny raise an eyebrow. “Hey Danny,” he drawled, biting his lip as he looked up into his eyes. “Wanna go back in and say you’re going up to bed and I can sneak in the window?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Noa’s going to be out for a while, he won’t hear anything from the next room over if we’re _very quiet_ ,” he whispered enticingly. He pressed his body flush to Danny’s, looking up at him with a playful grin. 

Danny groaned softly, leaning in to kiss Ethan. “Promise you can be quiet so I don’t have my _entire_ family hearing that a boy snuck in my window?”

Ethan grinned. “Yep!”

Danny smirked and pulled him into a hard, promising kiss, rocking their hips together teasingly before he pulled back, leaving Ethan gaping. “Race you,” he said, then turned and ran back to the house. He didn’t look back as he went inside. He called out a quick ‘going to bed since Noa’s down for now’ to the living room before taking the stairs at a normal pace so that nobody heard him. When he got to his room, he opened the door and turned to flip the lock and hit the light switch at the same time. When he turned back, he stopped short.

Ethan smirked from his spot lying on the bed with his shirt already unbuttoned and shoes off, arms behind his head. “I win,” he said smugly.

Danny bit his lip, eyes traveling the length of Ethan, and he shook his head as he stalked towards the bed, unbuttoning his shirt with a predatory look. “No, pretty sure I still won.”

~

Ethan hummed happily, only to giggle slightly when Danny reached out and stroked the length of his nose with one finger. “Shhhh,” Danny shushed and Ethan gave him a mock glare.

“Then stop being dorky,” he said, grabbing Danny’s hand, pulling it away from his face to hold against his chest. He smiled when Danny twisted it to lace their fingers together, using his hold to pull Ethan over onto his pillow, tangling their legs together. Ethan let go and wiggled until his arms were around Danny, his forehead pressed to Danny’s, both of them closing their eyes as they got comfortable tangled up in each other. “Hey Danny?” Ethan whispered.

Danny hummed tiredly. “Yeah?”

Ethan nuzzled against Ethan some. “I know you’re going to be totally annoyed at me for ruining our cuddling here, but… I’m really, really sorry about how I treated you and Noa that week,” he said and Danny sighed heavily, sliding back some so he could meet Ethan’s eyes. “I know, not the best time, but I had to say it,” Ethan muttered softly. “I took advantage of you and I neglected Noa somewhat. I was wrong. I was so wrong. And what I did to you when we fought-“ Ethan’s breath hitched slightly. “Scaring you like that, presenting myself as a threat, it was _horrible_. I can’t believe I did that, but you have to know I’d never hurt you. I don’t mean that as some asshole trying to cover up being dangerous, I mean it literally. I _can’t_ hurt you. Even if I would ever want to – and I don’t, I never would want that – I can’t hurt you. I would rather rip out my own heart than hurt you.” He smiled at Danny. “I love you so much. You are the best thing to happen to me besides Noa. I don’t want to lose you because I was an idiot.”

Danny made a face. “Well it wasn’t just you, Eth,” he admitted. “I accused you of not _loving our cub_ ,” he groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “That was just… horrible. I can’t believe I said that. You should’ve never heard that from anyone but definitely not from me. Yes, what you did was a little shitty, but it wasn’t as much taking advantage and neglecting as it was just a new situation of trial and error and went _seriously_ on the error side.” He chuckled. “We’re both such strong people and when you throw in exhaustion on both sides and a seriously fussy baby, it’s a recipe for things to blow up. We hit that point and it descended into something so ugly we should both be ashamed,” he admitted. He looked up at Ethan. “You hurt me,” he said honestly. “I know I hurt you. We both hurt Noa, though. Nothing he suffered was his fault and we did that. We can’t do that to him,” he said, shaking his head. “We did this entire relationship backwards, but we can’t change that and I refuse to lose this because we’re _good_ together.”

Ethan smiled fondly. “When we’re not striking raw nerves, right?” he asked and Danny chuckled. “I get it, Danny.” He slid his hand down Danny’s bare side. “You don’t even know everything about my life. I’ve never told you some things because they’re too bad to even think about,” he started. “But you _know_ that since I met you, my life went from ‘shitty but better than it ever had been’ to _amazing_.” He beamed. “It was just me and Aiden for all our lives, but then I met you. Sure, originally I was supposed to kill you, but you showed me that people can be kind and wonderful. Then you gave me my cub,” he said with a small smile. “Sure, that was a plot from a crazy person, but the fact stands that you got me pregnant and gave me the most perfect part of my life. And being pregnant gave me and Aiden some protection from lingering doubts from the others. And being pregnant gained the attention of a kind man that I now think of like a Dad.” He shook his head. “We did things backwards but everything that’s happened since I met you was good. It was a series of amazing things. You _saved me_ , Danny,” he breathed, stroking a finger along his ribs as his eyes searched Danny’s. “Every time I hurt you – even if it’s something tiny – I can’t help but be scared because if I lost you, my world would be destabilized. Sure, things would be okay now, but it would never be as steady as it was.”

Danny let out a breath and leaned in, kissing Ethan slowly. “You deserved everything even without me, Ethan.” He cupped his cheek and shook his head. “I didn’t just save you, you know? To be the ‘popular boy’, I was really down on people who cared about me. My best friend was gone, my other friends were mostly lingerers, and my world had been shaken.” He groaned. “I have the _worst_ track record with boys. I’ve never dated a guy who didn’t have serious issues. And yeah, you kinda cement that,” he joked. “But you’re different because, out of all of them, nobody ever loved _me_. Nobody ever cared about me. They would lie and cheat and hurt me just because they could. But with you, you never wanted to hurt me, Ethan. Even when I found out you lied just like they did, and about worse things than screwing other guys since you hurt people, you felt _bad_. You weren’t cold and spiteful, you were scared and lonely. And I wanted to fight for us because nobody so beautiful deserves to be afraid and alone.” Ethan rolled his eyes as the compliment. “Our cub is the most amazing thing anybody has given me. Sure, like you said, takes two to make a baby and a third if you count the magic, but I’m _gay_. I’d have never had a baby otherwise. I love being a dad. I love having a family. And I’m not letting one fight take that away from us.”

Ethan smiled hopefully. “Can we just… put this behind us and move on? I’m sure we’ll have other fights, but can we never let it be like this again?”

Danny nodded. “Totally,” he said, then rolled onto his back, pulling Ethan with him, smiling up at Ethan’s laughing, glowing face as he settled, pecking Danny’s lips before laying his head down, sprawling across Danny’s chest.

“Hey Danny?”

“Hmm?”

Ethan closed his eyes, fighting a ridiculously big smile. “I love you.”

Danny cured his arms around Ethan and kissed the top of his head. “Love you always, Eth.”

Ethan snuggled in and relaxed. “Good.”

~

Danny was still putting on his gear when Scott came over. “Hey, why is Ethan out at the field?” he asked. “I didn’t know you guys were going out in public with Noa?” he asked. “Also, the game isn’t for another hour.”

Danny shot him a look. “Is my boyfriend and son a problem for you?” he challenged.

Scott shook his head. “No, it’s just weird. I mean… Ethan and Aiden used to go to school here, so people will remember him, and then there’s the whole ‘oh wait, Danny’s baby is Ethan’s baby?!’ thing. It’s gotta be weird, right?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “It’s nobody’s business. And they’re here early because that way Noa can get used to the people when they start showing up instead of tossing him into it all at once. Coach said it was fine, so it’s fine,” he said, shrugging. He shut his locker and grabbed his helmet. “Don’t worry, I won’t be distracted,” he teased.

When he got out to the field, Coach Finstock was talking to Ethan and Noa. “Oh that can’t be good,” Stiles said from his side, slapping Danny on the shoulder. “Good luck with that.”

Danny jogged over to them, eyeing Ethan for signs of being freaked out by Coach. He seemed fine, though. He was laughing at something Coach was saying. Noa saw him before Ethan did. “DADA!” he cried, then squealed, clapping.

Ethan looked up and shot Danny a smirk. Danny grinned. “Hey there, Monkey!” He squatted down and held out his hands. Noa was standing between Ethan’s knees, holding his hands to balance. “Can you come to Daddy?” he asked, then positively beamed when Noa looked at his hands and let go of Ethan to take the three steps to Danny, who scooped him up. “That’s my big boy!” he cheered, thrusting Noa up into the air to make him squeal and giggle. He pulled him into a hug and pressed kisses all over his face. 

“You’ve got a cute kid, Danny,” Coach said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Big kid too. He’ll be a great lacrosse player someday,” he said confidently.

Danny rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure we can really indoctrinate our kid to loving Lacrosse quite yet, he’s not even one yet,” he said, but Ethan smirked. 

“Actually,” he said, opening the baby bag to pull something out. “I figure when the sun goes down and it starts getting cold he’ll need this,” he said, holding up a tiny little knit hat that was red with a white ‘6’ on it and the words ‘Go Daddy!’ around the band. 

Danny put a hand over his mouth, biting back an unmanly sound at how adorable it was, but apparently Coach didn’t have that same problem. “Awwwwww that’s the cutest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen!” he exclaimed loudly, then flashed two thumbs up. “Coach approves.” Without another word he turned to head to the bench, blowing his whistle to gather up his team to start warming up before the other team got there.

Danny smiled and kissed Noa’s hair. “You gonna watch Daddy beat the brakes off these guys?” he asked and Noa just clapped. “I’ll take it,” he said, then handed him over to Ethan, leaning down to peck his lips. “Wish me luck?” he asked and Ethan just smirked.

“You don’t need it,” he said, tilting his lips up for one last kiss. “Go kick some ass, Baby,” he said, slapping Danny’s butt when he turned to walk off, making Danny laugh and turn back to give him a playful glare. Ethan grinned and slipped Noa’s little hat on his head. “Can you say ‘yay Daddy’?” he asked and Noa clapped his hands.

“YAY DADA!” he called out and Ethan grinned, looking up to see Danny glance back with a happy smile before joining his teammates to start warm-ups.

~

Ethan couldn’t stop laughing every time he looked beside him at John and Derek’s reactions to the game. He was shocked Derek even showed up, but apparently he’d promised Stiles he’d come to the first game even if no more. Most of the game, he’d looked bored, but when Stiles actually got called into the game, both John and Derek tensed and ended up on the edges of the bleacher, fisting their hand and muttering curses every time something happened, even if Stiles wasn’t part of it. When Stiles got hit, however, both John and Derek made almost panicked jerky movements. Ethan rolled his eyes at them. “It’s lacrosse, you can’t really freak out every time he gets hit,” he said, looking over to see Stiles getting to his feet.

Ethan cheered and clapped with everyone else when Danny checked an attackman and stopped his shot, but he burst out laughing when Noa looked around at everybody clapping and held up his arms and cried, “YAY!” It was adorable. John laughed and reached over to ruffle Noa’s hair. 

“That’s right, Monkey!” John said, sharing an amused look with Ethan. 

Ethan was distracted when a voice caught his attention from up behind them a few rows. “That number six, he’s good.” Ethan glanced back surreptitiously and saw two men with clipboards and cameras sitting near each other. “The roster says Mahealani, right?” the man with the glasses asked his companion.

The other man nodded, flipping a page. “He’s already golden. I’m mostly here just to check up and make sure he’s still as good. I scouted him last year,” he explained. “Danny Mahealani. He’s a senior this year, so I got to him last year. The team has some prospects, but the only one with the grades and talents for the school to approve a full ride is Mahealani. Best goalie I’ve seen in the state. They’ve won the championships the last two years in a row and he’s been the starting goalie the whole time.”

“Ah, good,” the glasses man said. “So we’ve already offered him a full ride? He hasn’t accepted?”

The guy shook his head. “I told him to wait for it. Said to keep it in mind and we’d talk this season. I’m pretty sure nobody else has even caught wind of him yet so he’s ours for sure.”

The other chuckled. “I don’t think we’d have a problem getting him even if somebody else scouted him too. Who turns down a full ride scholarship to Notre Dame?”

Ethan’s blood ran cold and he turned back to the pitch quickly, ears ringing. _Notre Dame_. Danny had always avoided talking about college around Ethan and he thought it was odd, but now he knew why. He had an offer to Notre Dame. _Notre Dame_.

The whistle blew and Ethan looked up, surprised to see he had missed the entire rest of the game. It looked like they had won at least, judging by the way the crowd around him was cheering – Noa yelling ‘yay!’ along with his Papa from his spot on Ethan’s lap – but Ethan couldn’t help but hear the words echo in his mind.

_Who turns down a full ride scholarship to Notre Dame?_

~

They all went to the diner for a celebratory dinner. Danny’s parents, Stiles and John, Scott and his mom, and a few other friends came with them. Even Aiden got off work and met them. “And then Stiles! Oh my God, guys, Stiles scored _twice_!” Scott boasted, reaching across the table to high-five Stiles. “It was so great!”

Isaac perked up. “And when Danny knocked the crap out of that one guy!”

“Yeah, it was like he ran into a brick wall!” Jackson said, laughing as he shoved Danny’s shoulder companionably. 

John grinned at Noa, who was sitting in his Papa’s lap. “You guys should’ve seen Noa. He had no idea what was going on, but he _loved_ shouting ‘yay’ every time people cheered. Pretty sure he cheered for both teams though,” he joked and Danny grinned down the table at Noa, who was still wearing his ‘Go daddy!’ hat.

“It was so cool having my big man watching. That was the neatest thing ever! I never even thought about bringing him before Ethan suggested it. I worried it would scare him,” he said and Ethan shook his head from across from Danny.

“Nah, letting him get there early and get acclimated was good enough. He was just squirmy, trying to go look at things and flirt with every girl who came by,” he joked. “You should’ve seen how many women hit on whoever was holding Noa, guys.”

Derek smirked at John. “I thought that soccer mom was going to eat you, John,” he said and John snorted, rolling his eyes.

“I got so many ‘you don’t look old enough to be a grandpa’s tonight,” he said, then winked at Noa. “You’re a much better wingman than the other grownups, Noa,” he informed him, ruffling his hair.

Stiles looked around. “So Coach said there were like, scouts from three different colleges at the game tonight. Anybody get talked to?” he asked the others. “Would it be total fraud if the ‘advanced’ ones of you accepted?” he pondered.

Scott snorted. “Even with better grades, I’m still way too low in the grades department. I’m gonna graduate easy, but I’m not getting any scholarships, that’s for sure.”

Jackson shrugged. “I don’t need one,” he said honestly.

Isaac ducked his head. “I’m not sure about college,” he admitted with a sheepish smile.

Melissa shot him a look. “You can get sure, kid. Even if it’s just local, you’re getting an education,” she said and he gave her a small grin. “And what about you, Stiles? You aren’t looking to play lacrosse in college?”

Stiles snorted, rolling his eyes. “Hell no.” He rubbed at his ear absently, looking down. “I kinda don’t need it,” he said and John gave him a look that clearly said ‘oh yeah?’. Derek smirked and nudged Stiles, who grinned. “I kinda got into a fully online criminal justice program from Sacramento State so I can do that at the same time as law enforcement academy. I start two weeks after graduation and it’s only like a forty minute drive so I’ve got some time to get things started before we start looking at finding a house,” he said, then grinned. “Oh yeah, I never mentioned I already took entrance exams and stuff and got into the academy,” he said to his dad, and John gaped.

“You already got accepted and you didn’t tell anybody?!” he asked. Then frowned. “What do you mean ‘find a house’?” he asked suspiciously.

Stiles glanced at Derek who gave him a slightly panicked look. “I told Derek because we’ve kind of been talking about moving in together,” he said and John’s eyes snapped to Derek’s pale, wide-eyed face. “Dad, don’t do that,” he chastised, then smirked. “Besides, we’re not moving in together until he’s willing to agree to us getting a house that _wasn’t_ a meth lab at some point.”

Scott giggled. “Dude, you’re gonna be a cop and your boyfriend has been suspected of like… four felonies!”

Derek glared at him and Scott just grinned innocently. Ethan bit his lip looking at Danny, who was suddenly avoiding the conversation. He looked up just in time to see Danny’s dad look down from where he was sitting beside John and Noa. “Danny still won’t tell us which acceptance letter he’s going to reply to, but the prospects are good,” he said proudly. 

“Oh yeah?” Melissa asked, smiling at Danny. “You’re a smart kid, aren’t you? Where all have you been accepted?”

Danny cleared his throat. “I’m not sure where I’m gonna go-“

Jackson smirked. “Didn’t you hear? Danny’s got a guaranteed full-ride Lacrosse scholarship to Notre Dame,” he said, and much of the table fell silent. 

Danny glared at Jackson. “Jackson!”

“What? It’s true-“

Aiden glared. “Don’t start this crap again, Lydia isn’t here to stop you this time,” he said and Ethan turned to Aiden with shock on his face. Aiden gave him a nervous look and looked away.

Mrs. Mahealani seemed to come out of it and beamed. “Oh my God, Danny!” she squeaked, hand over her mouth. “You have a _full ride_ to Notre Dame?!” 

His dad smiled brightly. “That’s amazing!”

John looked impressed. “Wow, Danny, that’s really great. All the way in Indiana. That’s got to be exciting.”

Danny gave Jackson a look like he wanted to set him on fire and he ran a hand over his face. “Yeah, except I’m not accepting it,” he said, and immediately his parents both looked as if someone had doused them in ice water.

“WHAT?!” his mother cried, attracting half of the restaurants attention. “What the hell would make you turn down that kind of an offer?!”

Danny dropped his hand and rolled his eyes. “Mom, what do you think?” he asked pointedly, tilting his head towards Noa in John’s lap. “I can’t go to _Indiana_!”

His dad gave him an almost desperate look. “Danny, that kind of opportunity is crazy rare. You can’t _turn down_ a scholarship to a school like Notre Dame-“

“Bull, I can’t _accept_ that scholarship,” he argued. “Look, Notre Dame looks great, it sounds great, but I just can’t. It sounded great last year when they offered it to me and said they would talk to me again. They did. Tonight,” he said and everybody stared. “They said I’m the only kid in the region they offered a scholarship because I’m the best goalie in the state. I know that sounds great,” he stressed, looking at his parents and ignoring the others. “But look at it from my point of view. I would either have to spend _at least_ four years halfway across the country from my son – which is not happening – or I’d have to uproot Ethan And Noa’s lives and all of us move to a place where Ethan would have to negotiate _safety_ ,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows pointedly. “With the locals, we wouldn’t have anybody to take care of Noa, so Ethan couldn’t work, I’d have to deal with school, college lacrosse, and a job to support us, and Noa would be cut off from the rest of his family,” he stressed. “It just isn’t happening.”

His dad shook his head. “Son, I know four years sounds like a long time-“

“I’m not taking the offer, end of discussion,” Danny said curtly. He groaned, rubbing at his temples. “I was going to talk to Ethan and tell you all about it after I accept, but I’ve got accepted with a limited scholarship to Berkeley,” he said and his parents exchanged relieved looks.

“Holy crap, really?!” Ethan asked, smiling at him brightly. “You talked about that a long time ago! Like, before Noa, you talked about how you wanted into the Engineering and Computer Science program in Berkeley!”

Jackson shot him a look. “What about lacrosse? Dude, you’re the best goalie in the state! You’re almost as good as those of us who have ‘enhancement’,” he stressed.

Danny shrugged, making a face. “I’ll have a one year old son when I start college. Risking those kinds of injuries when I’ll have a toddler to look after? No way.” He grinned. “Besides, a good number of us know how good I am at computer science already, this will be fun,” he said and Stiles snickered into his hand.

Ethan grinned and stood up, leaning over the table to kiss Danny, who smiled against his lips, leaning closer so he didn’t have to reach so far. “I’m so happy for you, Danny,” he said, sitting back down.

Danny nodded, tangling his fingers with Ethan’s across the table. “And Berkeley is close enough we can work out the living situation. If we have to, I can just come home on the weekends and live in a dorm there. If we move with Noa, we’re close enough to bring him back on the weekends. It’s just a few hours’ drive, so it’s no big deal at all. It’s close enough for a day trip, really, so if we move with Noa, any day somebody has off, they can drive down and see him.”

Ethan nodded, smiling. “We can work it out however it’s best,” he said, then squeaked, bouncing in his seat some. “I’m so proud of you. And I’m so glad you’re not going to Indiana, holy crap, I couldn’t handle that,” he said earnestly. 

Danny shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere, Baby,” he promised, pressing a kiss to Ethan’s hand.

Ethan bit his lip. “Good.”

~

**Epilogue**

Danny was lying on his back with Noa asleep on his chest, taking up the couch. Ethan sat on the floor beside the couch, having been playing video games with Stiles before he and Derek had left to spend the night at Derek’s house. John had gone to sleep not long ago, and Aiden had gone up to their room a little after. Ethan leaned his head back and laid it against Danny’s ribs, since he had an arm curled under his head. He closed his eyes and listened to Danny and Noa’s heartbeats and breathed in the mixture of all the familiar scents the house offered. He smiled when he felt Danny move his arm, dropping it off the couch, searching out Ethan’s hand. Ethan caught it and pulled Danny’s hand into his lap. 

“So, you knew about Notre Dame already didn’t you?” Danny asked and Ethan chuckled.

“I heard the scouts at the game tonight talking about you.” He closed his eyes. “I got so scared, Danny. The thought of you all the way across the country… or of having to risk a one year old cub in strangers’ territories? I was kinda freaking out inside. I figured you would tell me later sometime.”

Danny shook his head. “I wasn’t going to do it.”

Ethan hummed. “Not even if you hadn’t gotten into Berkeley?”

“I was never going to Notre Dame. I gave up on college lacrosse after I really understood what Noa meant for my life. Lacrosse colleges are a definite eastern half of the US thing, so it wasn’t going to happen.” Danny stroked his thumb across Ethan’s knuckles. “I’m okay with that. This is a better future. I want Noa around his pack, I want to focus more on my family and my school work than Lacrosse would allow, and this is one of the best programs in the country. If I can get a degree in this, I will have job security and a way to provide a good life for you and Noa.”

Ethan smiled faintly, eyes still shut. “My life is already pretty great just like this.”

“Our life is good, but it can be better when we’re able to care for our cub and provide for him. I want him to have everything I ever had, and never have to be afraid like you did,” he whispered and Ethan nodded against his side.

“Noa already has more of a chance than Aiden and I ever did. No matter what, Noa is loved by so many people. I couldn’t be more grateful for the life we have.” The corners of his lips tilted a little as he reached into his pocket, fingers turning over the object inside a few times. “Hey Danny?”

“Hmm?” Danny hummed and Ethan bit back a happy sigh.

“There is one thing you could do to make our life better,” he said, looking down at Danny’s hand against his stomach. 

Danny frowned as he felt something cold sliding onto his hand. He opened his eyes and tugged his hand free, holding it up to look at, only to blink, eyes widening significantly as he stared at the plain silver band on his finger. “Ethan?” he asked suddenly, looking down, only to see Ethan smiling back up at him. “Eth?”

Ethan moved onto his knees, catching Danny’s hand to press a kiss to his knuckles. “What d’ya think?” he asked, resting his lips against Danny’s hand as he watched him eagerly. “Marry me, Danny?” he asked breathlessly, eyes glowing with barely contained eagerness.

Danny let out a soundless laugh and beamed. “Really?” Ethan nodded, a small smile unfurling across his lips. “You wanna get married?”

Ethan tilted his head against Danny’s side. “I wanna marry you, cause I love you and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you.”

Danny smiled softly. “I wanna spend the rest of my life with you too,” he said, then nodded decisively. “Yeah, let’s get married.”

“Yeah?” Ethan asked, sheer glee showing on his face. “Really?”

Danny nodded again. “Yeah, really.” He let go of Ethan’s hand and curled his fingers around Ethan’s face, pulling him in. “C’mere.”

Ethan leaned down, careful of Noa’s sleeping form, and kissed Danny slowly, putting every ounce of his joy into a small, simple kiss. When he pulled away, he let out a soft giggle. “We’re getting married?”

Danny grinned. “We’re getting married,” he agreed, curling one hand around their cub, and the other in Ethan’s hair, pulling him into another kiss. Ethan whispered the one thing that he meant more than anything else when their lips parted.

_“Thank you.”_

**Author's Note:**

> This fic now has a sequel! [The World Stops Turning](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1022828) that can be read alone as a Sterek or as sequel to this fic... and since you're seeing this, I'm guessing it'll be as a sequel.


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